Prof. Jonah Onuoha of the Department of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has called for the resignation of some principal officers of the House of Representatives.
Onuoha told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka, Enugu State that all the officers fingered in the alleged padding of the 2016 Budget should resign.
He said that their resignation would ensure unimpeded investigation into the matter.
“The best thing for the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, and other principal officers accused of padding the 2016 Budget by Mr Abdulmumin Jibrin, the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, is to resign.
“Such action will ensure unhindered investigations to be carried out.
“The allegation is very weighty as it has to do with financial fraud and corruption by the suspected legislators,” he said.
Onuoha described the development as a ‘litmus test’ for President Muhammadu Buhari to convince Nigerians and the international community that the fight against corruption was not selective.
He advised the president to ensure that the lawmakers and any other person indicted for padding the 2016 Budget after investigations were prosecuted.
“This is an opportunity for Mr President to prove that nobody is above the law in this country.
“It will as well confirm what he said during his inauguration that he belongs to everybody, and belongs to nobody.
“The way this matter is handled will either end budget padding in this county or give it a boost in future.
“Budget padding has been an indirect way of looting the country’s economy by legislators in the past,’’ the professor said.
He said it was unfortunate that legislators, in spite of their jumbo salaries and allowances, still perpetrated fraud through budget padding.
“I am happy the whistle-blower, Jubrin, who is also involved, has the boldness to expose this high profile fraud going on in the lower chamber in the name of budget padding.
“What pains me most is that this huge money padded into constituency projects end up in their private pockets instead of using it to carry out people-oriented projects for their constituencies.
“Without this revelation by the former chairman of appropriation committee, Nigerians will not know that such people have been using budget padding to loot,” Onuoha said. (NAN)