JIBRIN'S ALLEGATIONS OF BUDGET PADDING; DESPERATION?

Nigeria is in an era of change. Whether you describe it as positive or negative, you must agree that one characteristic of this period is the fight against corruption.

Corruption has rightly been said to have eaten deep into the very fabric of Nigeria, including the arms of government. Of special interest is the National Assembly where a special kind of corruption is said to exist called "budget padding". Budget padding is the inflation of the proposed budget in order to give the
project room to expand or to cover unexpected costs. Whether this act truly constitutes a criminal offence is still a subject of debate. This article is concerned with the recent allegations of budget padding by a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Jibrin, against the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, his deputy, Hon. Yusuf Lasun, the Chief Whip, Hon. Doguwa and Minority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor (people he calls the quartet).
Hon. Jibrin was hitherto the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation (the committee at the heart of the budget process). He was sacked sometime in July allegedly due to the earlier reports of budget padding which were resolved when the budget was signed into law. Immediately he was sacked, he began to open a can of worms and started fingering the above 'quartet' for being behind padding the budget. He alleged, among other things, that Dogara diverted nine billion naira worth of projects to his constituency alone.
He has been relentless in his accusations and has rebuffed all efforts, even by his party, to keep him quiet. The matter is something that is beyond his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), so they should steer clear from the issue. In any case, the party which claims to be in support of the anti-corruption war should not be shielding its members from allegations.
The motive of his actions is questionable. This is because he knew about all these activities all along while as the Appropriation Committee chairman but refused to speak. It leads one to believe that he is not genuine himself. He clearly is acting like this because he was sacked. He put up a defence that he would have spoken earlier but for threats to his life. How come the threats disappeared when he was removed?
This is not an article to defend alleged corrupt acts, neither is it in support anybody, but it is to question the true intention of Hon. Jibrin. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.