The House of Representatives committee on Ethics and Privileges has concluded its hearing into the corruption allegation made by Abdulmumin Jibrin against Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

But Jibrin, again, failed to appear before the committee even though the process had representatives of various vmedia organisations in attendance.

The committee had commenced a hearing on the issue last Friday following a motion by one of the legislators, accusing Jibrin of bringing the House to disrepute.

However, Jibrin did not appear before the committee on the first day of the hearing, saying that he has no confidence in the committee.

He insisted that he would only appear before the committee if the process was made public and accessible to the media, professional bodies and civil society groups.

On the resumption of the hearing on Monday, chairman of the Ethics and Privileges committee, Nicholas Ossai reiterated that the committee has the powers to investigate any member of the House, including principal officers.

According to information on the social media handle of the House of Representatives, various media organisations were represented at the hearing, including: Desert Herald, Premium Times, Authority Newspaper, National Mirror, ThisDay, Leadership, Radio Nigeria, TVC News, NTA, Jigawa State Government Radio Station, Africa Independent Television, AIT and Channels TV.

The committee chairman also reportedly called for a 30-minute recess in order to wait for Jibrin, whose office was locked and calls and text messages to his phone number was not responded.

Ossai told journalists that Jibrin had requested “that we invite media, civil society organisations, student unions, members of the Nigerian Bar Association and some university lecturers, which we did from the first day.

“We assured him that, as a member of this committee, he would be given fair hearing. The committee also went out of its way to make sure that this proceeding is made public.

“I think this committee has been seen to have observed the dictates of the Constitution on the matters of fair hearing.

“It is a duty for this committee that at all times Nigerians are carried along and we have done that.”

He told journalists that his committee would study the evidence before presenting its findings to the House soonest.