Police Says Dogara, Others Must Face Panel

 

The Police are on course to interact with Speaker Yakubu Dogara of the House of Representatives on the alleged padding of the 2016 budget after resumption of the National Assembly from its current recess, The Nation can now reveal. 

Also lined up for interaction are Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Ado Doguwa, and Minority Leader Leo Ogor. Saddled with the assignment is the Police Special Investigative Panel which, according to sources has had a session with House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila.

Gbajabiamila who had been out of the country said on Friday that he was offering himself to the law enforcement agencies for probe over the budget padding allegation.

Although his name has not featured among those listed by the sacked chairman of the House Committee of Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin, who spilled the beans, sources said the police panel had a “comprehensive session with the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila on Friday for over one hour.”

The panel has asked the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani Omolori, to submit the draft and final copies of the 2016 Budget to it within one week.

A highly placed source familiar with the development told The Nation that: “We are going to interrogate the Speaker and the three principal officers implicated in the main petition of the erstwhile Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin. “Once they return from recess, we will ask them to report. Already, a letter of invitation has been served on them. It is still subsisting.

“The initial argument is that the Speaker is the nation’s number four citizen and the modalities of summoning him ought to be different. But we have checked the statute books, neither Dogara nor any of the principal officers has immunity from investigation and prosecution.

“We have not foreclosed investigation into the alleged budget padding. Whoever is talking of any other solution than this ongoing probe might be referring to another platform.”

The source said the commitment attached to the investigation accounts for non-reopening of the office of the Appropriation Committee in the House which was locked following the budget padding allegations and the counter allegations.

“Until we have conducted substantial investigation, the office will still be firmly locked by security agencies. That is a strong room of exhibits,” the source said.

Asked of the extent of investigation, the source added: “We have got sufficient documents for preliminary investigation which is already in progress. “The Clerk of the National Assembly has up till next week to submit the draft and final copies of the 2016 Budget to the panel.

“All we need now is to interact with the four principal officers immediately they return from recess. If they fail to report, the law has a provision for taking card of such.” The source confirmed that 10 chairmen of committees in the House will take their turn after the four principal officers.”

On the appearance of House Leader Gbajabiamila before the SIP, the source said: “Although Jibrin did not mention his name in his petition and addendum, he had audience with us on Friday for over one hour. It was a comprehensive session which provided more insights into the workings of the House. We hope other leaders in the chamber will emulate him. 

“Gbajabiamila came in voluntarily and we took his statement, which is a loaded document on oath.”

Dogara said last week that he was not above the law following the barrage of criticisms that followed his initial statement that no one could probe what he does on the floor of the House as a member and Speaker. He denied reports that suggested that he could not be investigated or prosecuted over the scandal. He also said reports credited to him as saying padding was no offence under the law were untrue. He said his comments on the alleged budget padding were a misrepresentation with and Nigerians now seeing him as insensitive to their feelings.

Omg! 50 Dead, 90 Injured in Suicide Bomb Attack at a Wedding Party (Photos)

 A blast at an outdoor wedding party in the south Turkish city of Gaziantep has killed at least 50 people and injured 94 more, the authorities say. The blast, which occurred at around 11pm local time on Saturday in the Akdere neighbourhood of Sahin Bey district, was a “terror attack”, according to Ali Yerlikaya, the governor of Gaziantep.


He said ambulances were dispatched to the scene, and dead and wounded people were taken to hospitals, Aljazeera reports. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said so-called Islamic State (IS) was likely to have carried it out amid reports of a suicide bomber targeting the party. The attack, in an area popular with university students, could be heard across the city.
 
 Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, is known to have several IS cells. The BBC’s Seref Isler, who is from Gaziantep, says the city was already on edge before the attack because of events in Syria, where IS has been battling Syrian Kurdish forces.

 A suicide bomber believed to have links to IS killed two policemen in Gaziantep in May. According to a report by AFP news agency, the bomb went off in a part of town with a large Kurdish community and there seem to have been many Kurds at the wedding.

See the N*ked Statue of Donald Trump Which Appeared in a New York Park (Photos )

This is the n*ked statue of Donald Trump everyone is talking about that appeared complete with bulging belly and elaborate yellow hair in New York on Thursday until it was demolished by park wardens.

 The statue showed his hands clasped across ample belly, the sculpture was unveiled in Union Square, gazing out across a busy street with an engraved plaque saying “The Emperor Has No Balls,” witnesses said.

Father Mbaka Sends Strong Warning to Buhari --- Poverty is Smelling in Nigeria, Rule Well or Be Voted Out

 Popular Enugu Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, who runs the Adoration Ministries in the eastern capital, Enugu, has sent a strong message to his friend, President Muhammadu Buhari in his latest sermon.


The fiery cleric who became controversially famous after his prediction that Goodluck Jonathan would be swept away by the wind of change in the last presidential election, has blasted the president over the economic hardship sweeping the country resulting from what he defined as poor leadership under the Buhari-led government.

 The catholic priest said that the president should know that Nigerians may vote him out in the next presidential election, adding that people are clearly getting tired, continuing that he campaigned against the ex-president Jonathan because of the extensive corruption in the last administration in the hope that Buhari’s government would be better after his avowed declaration to fight corruption.

 “No nation could survive when the cankerworm of corruption eats deep into its social fabric as was witnessed in the past administration which informed his interest and desire to opt for a change. “The change which eventually came under the leadership of Buhari is not helping matters as poverty is ‘smelling’ in Nigeria. Landlords are lamenting while tenants are hungry and frustrated,” Mbaka said
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