Senates Accuses Ita Enang For Circulating Different Version of 2016 Budget

According to the Leadership news, the Senate has accused the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Nationakl Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, of printing and circulating a different version of the 2016 Budget.

It added that after an investigation conducted by its Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions, it was discovered that there were discrepancies in the circulated version of the budget and the one presented to it by President Muhammadu Buhari in December, 2015.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who disclosed this yesterday after a closed door session that lasted for over two hours, however, insisted that the original budget submitted by Buhari was intact and not missing.

He said, “We went into a closed door session to analyze the report of our ethics committee on the issue of a missing budget 2016 and we discovered that Senator Ita Enang printed and circulated a different of the 2016 budget which was presented by President Buhari and circulated it to Senators.

“We have discovered that there are discrepancies in the version of the budget circulated by Enang from the version presented by the President that is the position at the moment”.

He further stated that the original document would be re-produced and circulated to Senators for deliberations as soon as the possible.

Collaborating the position of Saraki, the chairman senate committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Abdullahi Sabi told journalists that, “We are here to say that the report about the missing budget is not true, there is no any missing budget, what we had was an issue to be investigated by our ethics committee.

“If you recall, President Buhari did lay the budget, thereafter we proceeded on recess and on resumption it is expected that copies of the budget would be re-produced and submitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“But what we found out is that the document submitted by the President and the one re-produced by Enang had some discrepancies and as an institution of honour we are going to attend to only the original version of the budget which was submitted by the President .

“We have sent for the soft copy of the original document so that we can re-produce and commence on, which would be the correct one. The institution of the Senate cannot and will not do anything that will be illegal, we will not do anything that is not in the interest of the people that we represent”.

He continued, “What happened was that some people were saddled with the responsibility of re-producing the document and that was why we ran into this mess, because they did not do their job diligently and I want to assure you that we must protect the sanctity of this institution, because we are going to be accountable and transparent, this is an unfortunate development that we got into.

Responding to questions as to whether the leadership of the National Assembly and the executive arm of the government had at any point discussed the need to withdraw the budget, the spokesman said there was no such discussion.

On whether there would be punitive sanctions against Enang, Sabi said, “We did not appoint Enang, so we cannot recommend any punitive measures against him that is the situation at the moment; however the National Assembly leadership will meet with the Presidency on this matter”, declared Senator Sabi.

No Different Version of Budget in Reps – Kawu

Speaking to LEADERSHIP over the matter, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (House of Representatives), Hon Sulaiman Abdulrrahman Kawu, said the correct version of the budget was circulated in the House and that it was not withdrawn.

He said , “When a budget estimate is presented to the National Assembly joint session, the document is with the Clerk of the House, the process is that the budget copies would be re-produced in hard copies and circulated to members which has been done.

“Now, the President cannot withdraw it, he can only send an amendment to the budget if he feels that there are other items to be included or dropped. That is the procedure, for instance the budget was pegged at $35 per barrel, now the prices of crude oil is around $28 per barrel, which means there is a room for amendment if, it continues to drop, but clearly not a withdrawal or circulation of a fake version. That did not happen in the House and that is my stand”.

PDP calls for PMB’s impeachment, resignation of 2 ministers, CBN Gov

Meanwhile, the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the National Assembly to commence impeachment process against President Muhammedu Buhari for allegedly breaching the constitution by submitting two versions of the 2006 Budget.

In a statement made available yesterday by its acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, the PDP also asked the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma to resign “having failed to provide the much needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy resulting in the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar.”

The PDP further asked the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN, Mr Godwin Emefile, to resign for “plunging the country’s currency policy into chaos an action that has thrown investors into total confusion.”

APC Faults PDP over calls for PMB’s impeachment, ministers’ resignation

But the All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted the statement credited to Secondus calling for removal of Buhari, resignation of two ministers and the CBN governor by the National Assembly.

In a statement signed by its National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, the APC reminded the PDP that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic, but a country governed by laws.

The party said, “It is confusing and worrisome that the PDP calls for an investigation into the budget issue and at the same time calls for the removal and resignation of the aforementioned. In both content and context, PDP’s statement constitute a distraction to the National Assembly.”

Presidency reacts

Commenting on the matter last night, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr Garba Shehu said, “We are happy that they are ready to get on with the budget. We don’t want anything that will distract them from their work. The present level of relationship between between the Executive and the Legislature is too precious to be expended on issues that are not compelling”.