Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the EFCC, is investigating Yakubu Dogara Speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday, part of a campaign against graft being waged by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
The probe was spurred by allegations of padding by the House leadership of the 2016 budget. Though the House has since dismissed the allegations of padding levelled against it by one of their own, now suspended, Abdulmumin Jibrin.
Jubrin had written the EFCC reporting what he termed the rot in the House of Representatives over issues of budget. He accused the House leadership of deliberately upping the budget value by inserting strange overheads and inflating figures.
Speaker Dogara is under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over allegations he illegally added figures to Nigeria’s 2016 budget after it was passed by parliament, according to a letter from the EFCC dated June 9 and seen by Reuters.
A spokesman for Dogara did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
Buhari won the presidency on promises to combat Nigeria’s endemic corruption. But halfway through his four-year term, the results have been mixed, and one of his own senior advisors was suspended after a Senate investigation into embezzlement.
The Buhari government, more than any government in the country, had made war against corruption a state policy and party manifesto but it has also fallen victim of the same offence it is accusing the opposition.
Many politicians in Buhari’s government and party were perceived by Nigerians as corrupt. Some were alleged to have financed his election with stolen money.
