Dogara announces replacement of House Committee chair on Appropriations

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has announced the replacement of Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kano State as the House Committee Chairman on Appropriations.

Announcing the resignation on Wednesday, Dogara said that the Chairman, House Committee on Housing, Rep. Mustapha Bala Dawaki also from Kano State and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would replace Rep. Jibrin as chairman of the appropriations committee.

In a monitored report over a local television station, Dogara confirmed that, “he (Jibrin) came to me and said he cannot do it anymore and that the pressure was on him.”

However, Hon Jibrin while addressing the media on Wednesday, said, his leaving the post was a personal decision after due consultations with his family members, denying he was forced to resign.

In his words, Jibrin said, “Today, I walked into the chamber; I approached Mr. Speaker that after consulting with my family, I will not be available as chairman of appropriations committee.”

Meanwhile, according to Jibrin, he was leaving as the committee chair with a clear record, even though he said there were a lot of issues in the House pertaining to the 2016 budget that he will address in due course.

“I wasn’t forced to resign, I resigned on my own volition. I am sure the Speaker himself was surprised but I told him, there is no going back. There is no how an individual can write the budget. “It’s a process and a cycle and the records are there of inputs in the budget. Insinuations the appropriations committee wrote the budget for the National Assembly are untrue because inputs emanated from the various House committees,” Jibrin added.