By: Ovedhe Jerry.

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor, has said that the budget padding allegations leveled against him and other principal officerss including Speaker Yakubu Dogara, were outright lies.

Hon. Leo Ogor.

Hon.  Ogor posited this in a chat with this reporter over the weekend saying that, all the allegations being leveled against him and other principal of the House by former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, are mere lies to tarnish their images and to cause another war in the House.

Hon Jibrin had recently in a statement issued to journalists asked Speaker Yakubu Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, minority leader, Leo Ogor and Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa, to resign for alleged budget padding and illegally inserting and allocating projects worth over N20 billion to their constituencies in the 2016 budget, saying that, his refusal to inject another N30 billion into the budget for the speaker earned him the replacement.

Hon . Ogor in his response questioned why Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin had to wait until now to make the allegations, saying that “he did not want to go into altercation with anybody’’ and that “at the appropriate time, when we resume on the floor we will speak’’.

In his words, “I don’t want to go into altercation with anybody. At the appropriate time, when we resume on the floor we will speak. But I can assure you that they are all bunch of lies and there is nothing to it. So I am not going to waste my time responding to an issue I consider totally inconsequential.’’

He added Mr. Jibrin was aggrieved because he lost his place in the House Committee on Appropriation. You can read the lines; he has actually lost his committee and I believe that is the issue. Why didn’t he make available these allegations all along? This is the question you need to answer. How come he was the one that addressed the issue of this budget on channels and he accused the Presidency and the executive in respect of issues that bother on the budget. Today, he is singing a different tune, and I think he is good at singing different tunes anyway”.

The Reps Minority Leader further said that he will not go into any altercation with any person, adding that “if Hon Jibrin statements are true, that he should prove what he has said to Nigerians.