Jibrin and his many troubles in Kano

Again, the embattled House of Representatives member representing Kiru Bebeji federal constituency of Kano State, Mr Abdulmumuni Jibrin, is in the eyes of the storm. The lawmaker who is facing several political adversaries and who is yet to serve out the 180 legislative days suspension slammed on him by the Yakubu Dogara-led leadership of the lower chamber was last week sent packing as a member of the All progressive Congress (APC).

But like the proverbial cat with nine lives, the lawmaker is not leaving anything to chance in fighting back to reclaim his membership of the APC and even repositioning himself for re-election ahead of the 2019 poll.

Jibrin’s ordeal is traceable to his loyalty to the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as well as his criticism of leadership of Dogara in the House of Representatives.

These have pitched him against supporters of Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje who have a firm grip of the APC structure in Kano and the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa who is allegedly fighting back over the role played by Jibrin in the budget-padding saga last year.

Jibrin who was a guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week to answer some questions bordering on graft allegation against some members of his party, pointed accusing fingers at Doguwa as being among the masterminds of the multi-billion budget padding controversy.

The party leadership in Bebeji local government denounced the membership of Jibrin as a member of the ruling All progressive congress (APC) after accusing him of indulging in anti-party activities in Kano State.

Addressing journalists last week, APC Chairman in the council, Sani Kanti Ranka insisted that Jibrin’s expulsion was therefore in tandem with the recommendation of the five-man committee after thorough and due consultation.

According to him, “Jibrin was accused of four counts of offenses including causing division in the party at the local government level and creation of parallel leadership in Bebeji and 14 other wards in the local government. He was also accused of sabotaging the Ganduje administration and “being disrespectful to the national leadership of our great party.”

But Jibrin descried the purported dismissal from the party as huge joke orchestrated by “dubious character and known fraudster who is neither the chairman of my party at the local government level nor a party executive at the state level.”

He said, “My attention has been drawn to a false claim attributed to some mischievous impersonators that I have been expelled from my party at the local council branch. The party is not even aware of this impersonation making the rounds in the media.

“This is yet another round of character assassinations from career political antagonists who are perpetually threatened by our advocacy for transparency in public service and political leadership. Recall that I honored the invitation of the EFCC in a bid to shed light on the cases of corruption perpetrated by some principal officers of the house of representatives, despite dissuasion by these saboteurs of my party’s change agenda and stand against corruption.”

Although he declined to mention names of his adversaries, he insisted, “The initiators of this false claim of my expulsion are hired hacks engaged by some politicians in Abuja in continuation of their futile bids to frustrate my anti-corruption campaigns.”

He said the action by the party in his local council did not originate from the real leadership of the party just as he urged the public to disregard the notice saying that he was in cordial relationship with party members in the constituency and at the state council.

Countering the move of the local branch, spokesman of the party in the state, Abdullah Yahaya Karaye declared the decision of local chapter null and void. Speaking with The Guardian on telephone the APC mouthpiece said, “the whole issue is internal crisis and we prefer to settle it internally. But let me be quick to say that the expulsion notice issued against Jibrin does not stand. The state council has condemned it and I am pleased to say nobody was expelled. It is internal rancor at the local level and it is normal and I can assure you it will be resolved in due course.”

Besides the expulsion saga, Jibrin had weathered many other storms. In April 2017, crowd of party loyalists from his constituency besieged the Kano APC secretariat along Hotoro road, demanding disciplinary action against their representative over what they considered reckless comment against President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government.

Jibrin’s twitter post calling for the resignation of Buhari on health ground might have triggered the protest. Although he claimed he was quoted out of context, Jibrin had since tendered an unreserved apology for what he called “blunt bitter truth.”

Beyond the open war, the lawmaker is fighting more deadly battle ahead of 2019 as he may suffer the consequences of disobedience to the movers and shakers of power at the lower chamber. He was reported to have exposed huge frauds in the National Assembly.

His invitation by the anti-graft commission to clarify issues involving petitions submitted to it against the leadership of the House in no small measures has triggered palpable fear among the leadership of the house.