Suspended Jibrin gets award in London

Suspended lawmaker, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, has won an anti-corruption award for exposing budget fraud in the House of Representatives.

Hon Jibrin was honoured on Saturday by the London-based African Voice newspaper, his office said in a statement Sunday.

The paper bestowed the honour on Jibrin at its 20th Leadership and Legislative Awards investiture held in London.

“Your effort in helping to eradicate corruption is commendable,” Mr. Jibrin quoted the newspaper as saying in a notification letter to him.

After receiving the award, Jibrin, accompanied by his wife, thanked the organisers and said the accolade will further encourage him in his quest to defeat pervasive fraud in Nigeria’s legislature.

“The award is a huge morale booster because it is coming at a very difficult and challenging period.

“It’s a period I had to leave my post as Appropriation chairman of the House of Representatives, suspended through subterranean means by Speaker Yakubu Dogara and received several threats to my life by the highly placed public officials I accused of corruption,” Jibrin said.

Jibrin sparked controversy in July when he accused the leadership of the House of budget padding.

He made the allegations a day after he was removed as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation.

On September 28, barely a week after the House returned from a two-month recess, Jibrin was suspended.

The suspension, which would last for a year, is without salaries or allowances. He will also not be able to step his foot into the National Assembly complex.

Yet, the embattled lawmaker said he is unfazed.

“Despite the difficulties I am going through, I will never be cowed to silence. I asure you I will never retreat from this worthy line of action,” he said in his statement Sunday.

“I shall remain committed to the fight against corruption in the House of Representatives and Nigeria as a whole.”