BEVERLY HILLS, September 21, (THEWILL) – The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, has declared that he has bad news for those who think they can pull him down.
Dogara made this known as the house resumed insisting that the budget padding allegations against levelled against him and other leaders of the house impacted negatively on the integrity of the National Assembly.
Dogara said the scandal orchestrated by former Chairman, House Appropriations Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, posed a threat to the corporate integrity and image of the house as a democratic institution.
“Shortly after we adjourned for the recess, the erstwhile Chairman, Appropriations Committee, embarked on strange propaganda clearly aimed not only at the destruction of the image of some members,” Dogara said.
“It was also a systematic destruction of the institution of the House of Representatives and indeed, the legislature, by portraying it to the public as an irredeemably corrupt institution.
“The motivation for his actions as he has said severally and repeatedly, is to have the four principal officers removed from their positions and not that the truth should be known.
“These wild allegations which were initially directed at four members of the House leadership progressively engulfed the entire membership of the House and then, the institution.
“The house leadership chose the part of maturity by maintaining great restraint, fully conscious of the fact that at the appropriate time, the truth will prevail.
“I have bad news for those who think they can pull down this institution of the people. If history is any guide, no one, in a democracy has ever succeeded in destroying a democratic institution such as the House of Representatives.
“It is, however, important to briefly say that nothing warrants the deliberate attempt at destructive public misinformation aimed at discrediting the house as an institution.”
Story by David Oputah
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