Kano lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Saturday called on anti-corruption agencies in the country to probe widespread acts of money laundering in the House of Representatives, saying the pattern has become entrenched in the lower chamber.
Mr. Jibrin said there was no better time for the authorities to revive pending money laundering cases than now.
“The money laundering issue has become a pattern over the years in the House,” Mr. Jibrin said in an email to PREMIUM TIMES. “It is time for the anticorruption agencies to move in decisively!”
PREMIUM TIMES had in December 2015 reported that between 2009 and 2015, the management arm of the federal legislature led by the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa, his predecessor, Yemi Ogunyomi, and their representatives, extensively violated the Money Laundering Act (2004, 2011) in banking transactions leading to the withdrawals of about N42 billion of public funds.
PREMIUM TIMES redistributed the report on Twitter and Facebook on Saturday.
The investigative report said members of the lawmaking arms of the legislature – Senate and the House of Representatives – were also involved in the violation of an Act they laboured for months to enact.
Mr. Jibrin, who has been in open war of words with the leadership of the House since he was removed as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation last month, also said Speaker Yakubu Dogara was responsible for the allegations of corruption being reported about him in the media.
Some reports on Saturday suggested that Mr. Jibrin was trying to restrain security agencies from prosecuting him for his alleged corrupt practices.
But Mr. Jibrin in his statement said Nigerians should dismissed the report because they were being sponsored by Mr. Dogara and others who might not be comfortable with his campaign against corruption.
“Speaker Dogara and his internal and external corrupt group have embarked on a very expensive media campaign to damage my reputation, I urge them to rather prepare for their imminent prosecution.
“No amount of media propaganda, blackmail or intimidation can stop me. They are very bitter because I have turned down a “family resolution” to the crisis,” Mr. Jibrin said.
Mr. Dogara’s spokesman, Turaki Hassan, said he would call back “in a minute” to comment for this story. He is yet to do so.
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