Former Chairman of House Appropriation Committee Abdulmumin Jibrin on Monday described allegations by the Anti-corruption Unit that he salted away £1.5 million in a foreign account in an ING Group branch in the Channels Islands, U.K.
In a response on his Twitter page Monday morning, the honourable said the allegations have no merit, and they are the latest assault on his person.
“The document is fake. I do not own such account or balance; neither do I have anything whatsoever to do with the said address at Essex,” he said.
The Anti-Corruption Unit had distributed what it said was the printout of Jibrin’s account balance in the UK, with £1.5 million as account balance.
“Jibrin’s ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which bar public officer from owning and operating foreign account,” Ifeanyi Okonkwo, ACU’s director said in a statement.
“Jibrin opened the account with his address at 453 Crankbrook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW,” Mr. Okonkwo said.
A reverse search done on the address showed that it was used by a company in which a person with the name, Abdulmumin Jibrin, born in September 1976, was a director until 2012.
Mr. Jibrin, the lawmaker, was born on September 9, 1976
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Mr. Jibrin also alleged a link between the allegations and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, with whom he has been having a faceoff for months now.
“This blackmail is part of a wider propaganda arranged by the desperate Speaker Dogara through his Deputy Chief of Staff Hon. CID Maduabum,” Jibrin said.
Mr. Dogara’s media adviser, Turaki Hassan, has yet to comment.
Jibrin had wanted to keep mum as the allegation raged on, but he was later pressured into making a statement Sunday night with some Twitter warriors like Kayode Ogundaminsi.
Ogundamisi, a social critic, urged Jibrin to defend himself against the document linking him with a foreign account.
After some exchange of screenshots of websites that matched Mr. Jibrin’s address in the UK to the address on the bank account, Jibrin, in frustration, blurted out: “Oga, now that you have found that I own the property and the account, what’s next?”
But a few hours later, Mr. Jibrin drew criticisms from Nigerians who said he was being deliberately elusive.
Mr. Jibrin said he would pursue legal actions over the development.
“I will be reporting these hatchet men to the police and EFCC this morning and my lawyers are taking the necessary legal actions. Enough is enough!” he said.