By Adenike Lucas

The Federal Government has promised to probe the allegation of “budget padding,” first raised by Hon. Dr Abdulmumin Jibrin on July 21st.

Dr. Jibrin, the embattled former Chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, made several allegations against the presiding officer of the House, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara and more than a dozen other lawmakers, saying they fraudulently padded the 2016 budget to the tune of N284 billion.

The allegation which has since been denied by Hon. Dogara and the other accused lawmakers has caused a commotion in the lower legislative chamber.

A statement by the Speaker on Friday that ‘padding is not a crime,” has led to many calling for his resignation.

Reacting to that account made by Hon. Dogara during a press briefing to State House reporters, an infuriated Dr. Jibrin went on to make more accusation via his twitter handle, yesterday.

The 39-Year-Old who slammed his Bauchi counterpart went on to accuse two serving Governors and three ex-lawmakers of preventing him from stating his own side of the matter to President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR.

In the explosive message posted on his twitter handle, Dr Jibrin explained that the Governors and three ex-lawmakers were working in hand with the Speaker and he vowed to reveal their names shortly.

The Attorney-General of the Federation Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN) has now announced that the Buhari led administration would “investigate the Executive and Legislative conspiracy as it relates to constituency projects with a view to measuring the art of execution of the padded projects over the years.”

This statement intuitively shows that the probe may be extended to the administrations of former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and immediate former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

Mr. Malami who is also the Minister of Justice said: “in so doing, we will learn our lessons in the budget and its implementation as a law with the aim to prosecute infractions and block leakages inherent in the padding process.

“Action must naturally be taken in the interest of the nation for efficient utilisation of our commonwealth and blocking of fraudulent leakages.”