The House of Representatives Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, has asked the police to investigate his role in the 2016 budget padding scandal to clear his name.

Honourable Gbajabiamila gave a hint on his request for investigation in a statement on Friday issued after a meeting with some other Principal Officers of the House.

According to him, the meeting was held to address the several allegations made by the former Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the House, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin.

He said that he had met with the police authorities for a proper and thorough investigation of his “role if any in this whole bizarre episode”.

The Statement read: “I returned from the United States just yesterday [Thursday] after a three-week break.

“I called the Speaker a day before my return to urgently fix a Principal Officers meeting so we could address the several allegations made by Hon Jibrin.

“At the meeting, Speaker Dogara, Deputy Speaker Lasun, Chief Whip, Honourable Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader, Hon Leo Ogor passionately and vigorously clearly stated their innocence.

“A prepared text was read and we all agreed to sign. For me as the Leader of the House I felt it was important to give them the benefit of doubt which in any case is what our constitution says”.

Honourable Gbajabiamila said that the decision to relieve Honourable Jibrin of his duties was indeed a collective decision of which he was part of.

He, however, claimed that he gave a caveat before the press release was signed, stressing that he had to clear his name.

“I made it clear to my colleagues in the leadership that because somehow my name had been sullied in all of this and fake documents and publications had been put out there in traditional and social media which stated I was also involved in the so called padding of the budget, that I would need to clear my name.

“And that even though no petition was filed against me by Honourable Jibrin and no invitation was extended to me by the police, I would be submitting myself on my own volition to the police for investigation.

“This is important to me as insinuations have been made from many quarters that I along with others were sponsoring Honourable Jibrin,” the statement further read.