The House of Representatives at it plenary session of Wednesday, December 7 2016, resolved to grant the former Chairman, Committee on Appropriation Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC: Kano) access into the National Assembly for the purpose of appearing before the Committee on Ethics and Privileges which has commenced investigation into the petitions against him.

Moving the motion, the Chairman of the Ethics and Privileges committee, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP: Delta) stated that the Committee had received two (2) petitions against him on absenteeism and poor representation; and for operating foreign accounts in violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

Hon. Ossai explained that his motion was in accordance with the provisions of Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which states that “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality”. In furtherance to this, he requested the permission of the House of Representatives to allow the Committee invite Hon. Jibrin on the grounds of fair hearing.

It could be recalled that the House of Representatives on Wednesday, September 21 2016 passed a resolution suspending Hon. Jibrin for 180 legislative days and barred him from holding any position in the present Assembly following his allegations of “budget padding” against the principal officers of the House .