Nigerians implicate Buhari in padding scam

President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused by some Nigerians of complicity in the budget padding scandal rocking the House of Representatives.

Yakubu Dogara has refused to resign over allegations that he and some principal members of the House of Representatives padded the budget to the tune of N40bn. Recall that speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and some principal members of the House were accused by the former chairman of the House committee on appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, of padding the budget to the tune of N40bn.

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But Dogara, who has been under fire since the allegations surfaced, says would not resign, insisting that budget padding was not an offence under the law. The All Progressives Congress has also ruled out sanctioning Dogara and Abdulmuminin Jibrin over the issue. However as calls continue to mount for the resignation of the speaker, a section of Nigerians have also accused the presidency of culpability in the budget scandal. They alleged that since the padded budget was signed by President Buhari, morality beckons on both the speaker and the president to resign over the scandal.

But some Nigerians have rejected calls for Yakubu Dogara to resign, on the ground that the allegations of budget padding was not punishable by law. Meanwhile, Yakubu Dogara has been criticized over his comment that he cannot be investigated or interrogated over alleged 2016 budget padding. According to Professor Itse Sagay, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Dogara goofed as nobody is exempted from prosecution or interrogation.