Budget padding: CISLAC wants N/Assembly to come clean over scandals

Speaker Yakubu Dogara


The Civil Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged the National Assembly to come clean on the various scandals bedeviling and denting her image among the citizens.

Executive Director of the centre Auwal Musa Rafsanjani said in a statement that the recent revelations by a former Chairman of the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives is further exposure of the institutional fraud that has characterized the National Assembly over the years.

“We note that such practices have been going on for a long time as the National Assembly has been known, in the past, to in addition to padding the budget at the point of defence, made dubious inclusions of Constituency Projects as well as have demanded and received inducement for sectorial allocation, the Fabian Osuji calls to mind.

“We find this allegations coming at a time when issues of Senate Rules forgeries are still on-going as one scandal too many trailing the legislative arm and endangering integrity, confidence and honour that is crucial for the legislature to perform and deepen our democracy,” Rafsanjani said.

He expresses disappointment at the belated revelations and allegations from the ousted Chairman as an afterthought and renditions from a disgruntled and outplayed lawmaker who was at the forefront of defending the House when the allegations of budget padding were first made.

He said this question his credibility, patriotism and loyalty to Nigerians who remained silent when he had the opportunity to blow the whistle and now only speak because he has lost out from benefiting from the process.

He therefore urged the ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau and other related statutory bodies to undertake further inquest in the allegations to get to the root of the matter and bring culprits to book where possible to serve as a deterrent for the future.