'No plan to sanction Jibrin, Dogara,' says APC

The All Progressives Congress has dismissed insinuations that the party will sanction some of its members, especially

Jibrin, who was sacked as the chairman of the appropriation committee under controversial circumstances, has in the past weeks accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers in the lower chamber of padding the 2016 budget.

However, Dogara and others have denied the allegations of corruption brought against them, insisting padding is not an offence.

Speaking during an interview with newsmen in Abuja, the Deputy Chairman (north) of the APC, Lawal Shuaibu, said the party has to plan to sanction any of its members fingered in the budget padding scandal.

He said: “What is padding? The party does not sanction anybody on that. What concerns us is where any member contravenes party constitution in his conduct.

“That is why I refer you to Article 7 subsection 5 of our party constitution. We are not a law enforcement organisation; we don’t enforce law.

“We only ensure that the constitution is complied with; any member of the party is answerable to the party and answerable to its constituency. The two members that are subjected to this are elected or appointed members of the party, including those that are holding public office.

“So you expect the party to sit down and watch? No, we have to do our work. The issue of us sweeping anything under the carpet does not arise at all. But we don’t do it in the market place; we do it in the party secretariat.”

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Last week, the APC slammed Jibrin for continuing to make public statements on the padding matter despite pleas by the party leaders, who urged him to refrain from making further comments until the issue is resolved.