The duo of Goje and Jibrin also asked their colleagues to stop crucifying them and take responsibilities over the controversies in the budget to be able to resolve the impasse. Since the budget was passed and transmitted on March 23, President Buhari had refused to sign it into law. First he demanded to see the details and thereafter, withheld assent insisting that the budget he sent was tempered with. One of the things that was said to have been removed from the budget was the Lagos-Calabar rail project, which the legislature said was never included. The controversies raged on with the legislature resolving last week that its leaderships should meet with Buhari to resolve the grey areas he transmitted to NASS last week. However, the meeting did not appear to yield the desired result, with the lawmakers embarking on blame game, accusing the appropriation committees over the budget impasse. Consequently, the two chairmen came up to state their absolute surrender to Buhari’s will, asking their colleagues to do same as they also caused the problems. “Given the foregoing, and all factors considered, we hereby state that we have had enough controversy over the 2016 budget.
“What is needful right now is a resolution of the differences and to that end, we call on our colleagues in the National Assembly to accede to the request by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari to have a second look at the details and make the necessary adjustments so that he can assent. “This, in our opinion, should not go beyond this week. To the extent that there are already ongoing consultations, a debate about who is right or wrong is unhelpful in the circumstance; and in any case, does not advance the cause of our country men and women whose interest we have been elected to serve,” they stated. The duo regretted what they described as deluge of misinformation, misrepresentation and innuendoes about the roles played by their committees in in the course of passing the budget.
“Even though most of the allegations, especially those specifically levelled against the two of us, as chairmen of the committee, are unfounded, we intend to respond to them at the appropriate time. “For now, what we consider important is to resolve the impasse around the budget and get it assented to so that its implementation can begin in the interest of all Nigerians. “However, we must put it on record that the details aggregated and transmitted to the executive are largely the inputs we received from the standing committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives,” they added. According to them, consultations were already ongoing between the executive and the legislature on the document. “A debate about who is right or wrong is unhelpful in the circumstance; and in any case, does not advance the cause of our country men and women whose interest we have been elected to serve.
“Nevertheless, we must commend President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the entire members of the National Assembly, members of the federal executive council, the minister of budget and the budget team for their cooperation even as we assure all Nigerians that we will do everything to protect and defend their interest, at all times,” the statement added. In a related development, National Secretary, All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Maimala Buni, said the support Nigerians were giving President Buhari in his quest to have a realistic budget, reflected the people’s faith in the present administration. Maimala, who stated this yesterday in Damaturu, Yobe State said Nigerians understood the desire of government to have a workable document which implementation would improve their lives. “It is evident that there is trust in government now and, Nigeria’s image has greatly improved before the international community, with an increased interest by foreign investors to invest in the country. “Every country is looking forward to doing business with Nigeria because we now have a president who is transparent, committed, incorruptible and trusted by Nigerian and the entire international community,” he said. The party scribe said Nigerian’s belief in the APC government was further demonstrated by the large turnout of voters in Saturday’s by- election in Yobe.
“The large turnout in yesterday’s election and APC’s victory at the polls has consolidated the people’s faith in the party and President Buhari to improve their lives. “In spite of the hardships suffered by the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, they came out massively to elect APC because of their strong faith in the party and the leadership,” he said Meanwhile, another chieftain of the party, Sen. Chris Adighije, has expressed support for President Buhari’s decision to properly study the 2016 budget before signing the Appropriation Bill. Adighije, who made this known while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Abuja, advised Buhari to take several factors into consideration before accenting to the budget.
He said the pressure created by the current challenges in the country should not be a reason for Buhari to sign the budget without proper verification. Adighije said the president needed to study the grey areas of the budget in order to establish the real intentions of the National Assembly. “I do not have the details of the budget with me, so it is difficult for me to say he should just sign; but I want him to study the grey areas carefully. “I think the so-called grey areas needed to be cleared before his accent. “All I want is for him to be meticulous and sign a budget that will be for the good of all Nigerians,” he said. On the persisting fuel scarcity, the senator appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the president. He expressed optimism that the APC-led Federal Government would restore normalcy in fuel supply, power and other sectors of the economy in no distant time.
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