Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe
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Speaker, Senate spokesman insist it's not missing
Omololu Ogunmade and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
After denials by the National Assembly and presidency that the 2016
Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December
22, 2015 was not missing, the Senate more or less admitted wednesday
that the document was withdrawn without its knowledge.
Consequently, it is awaiting the report of its ad hoc committee set up to unravel the mystery behind its disappearance.
The report of the committee is to be deliberated at a closed-door session of the Senate thursday.
The disclosure followed a point of order raised by the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Information and National Orientation, Senator Enyinnaya
Abaribe, when he demanded the whereabouts of the budget.
Abaribe had raised Order 42(1) of the Senate Standing Rules which
borders on matters of urgent public importance and confirmed that the
matter of the missing budget was the thrust of the Senate’s closed-door
session which lasted for 90 minutes on Tuesday.
According to Abaribe, senators had been inundated with calls from their
constituents, requesting the whereabouts of the budget, adding that he
and some of his colleagues were concerned about the whereabouts of the
budget.
Abaribe’s point of order contrasted with the announcement made earlier
by Senate President Bukola Saraki that copies of the budget would be
circulated to senators wednesday.
Abaribe said: “The matter that I refer to is what is in every newspaper
today and everywhere on all the talk shows on radio of a missing budget
and therefore Mr. President, I want to bring to your attention and all
my colleagues that yesterday in our closed-door session, this matter
also came up and some of us who were worried.
“We were also inundated by messages from our constituents who are
really worried about what their fate will be in 2016 and are asking us
‘where is our budget?’ That is why Mr. President, I think it is definite
and it is urgent that we look into this matter.”
Abaribe’s point of order validated the claim that the budget was
missing, but was strenuously denied by the Senate, House of
Representatives, presidency, and the Minister of Budget and National
Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, on Tuesday.
But Saraki, in his reaction to the point of order, only confirmed
THISDAY’s exclusive report yesterday that the matter of the missing
budget had been referred at the closed-door session of Tuesday to the
committee for investigation.
Saraki, who initially said he took exception to Abaribe’s point of
order, perhaps because he did not discuss it with him, as is usually the
case before raising it on the floor of the chamber, asked Abaribe to
wait for the presentation of the report of the committee saddled with
the responsibility of probing the “missing” budget thursday.
According to Saraki, the report of the committee would be considered at another closed-door session thursday.
“Because of the importance of this, I will take an exception. You know
we were all part of the decision at the closed-door session yesterday
and part of that decision is we are still waiting for those we have
referred to carry out the assignment to come back to us.
“I think they will come back to us by thursday and we will go into a
closed-door session and finish up the report and we will be able to
debate it properly,” he said.
Abaribe’s point of order confirmed that the budget was indeed missing.
His revelation also put a lie to Senate Leader Ali Ndume’s statement on
Tuesday when he insisted during a phone conversation with THISDAY that
the budget was not missing.
He also denied that there was a discussion on the missing budget during the closed-door session of the Senate.
However, THISDAY’s exclusive report yesterday that the budget was
secretly removed from the Senate by the president’s aide on National
Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, was confirmed by another senator
who did not want to be named.
The senator said Enang withdrew the budget on the order of the
presidency, adding that it was released to the presidential aide by the
acting Senate Clerk, Mr. Nelson Ayewoh.
The source said neither the Senate President nor the Clerk of the National Assembly was aware of its withdrawal.
He explained further that Enang took the document on the order of the
presidency during the Christmas break with the aim of swapping it with a
new one but time ran out on the executive.
The development was said to have come as a shock to the Senate
President whom the source said came to the National Assembly on Monday
only to discover that the budget was no where to be seen.
He was said to have invited the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, to inquire about the budget.
THISDAY was also reliably informed that both Enang and Senator Udo
Udoma who had vehemently denied that the budget was missing were at the
Maitama, Abuja home of Saraki at 8 am wednesday to apologise to him over
the mysterious disappearance of the budget.
However, barely three hours after the Senate President announced at the
Senate plenary that the panel set up to investigate the “missing”
budget was yet to submit its report, the Chairman, Senate Committee,
Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, at a press
conference yesterday said the budget was not missing.
According to Abdullahi, no statement made by any senator during the
plenary yesterday could be interpreted to mean an admission that the
2016 budget was missing.
Insisting that the budget was not missing, he added that the Senate
would today distribute copies of the budget to all the senators so as to
enable them properly contribute to the debate which would take place
between Tuesday, January 19 and Thursday, January 21 on the
Appropriation Bill.
He said all senators had confirmed that they would make contributions to the debate on the budget.
The Senate spokesman explained that during yesterday’s plenary when
Senator Abaribe sought for clarification on stories in the media that
the 2016 budget submitted to the Senate was missing and sought to get an
update on the issue, the Senate President replied that the issue he
(Abaribe) mentioned and all issues emanating from the executive session
were being looked into by the ad hoc committee and that all senators
should wait for the committee to submit its report.
His said: “We have reeled out our timetable for working on the budget.
So how can the same budget be missing? The Senate President never said
or admitted that the budget is missing and there was nothing that he
said while presiding over the plenary that could be logically
interpreted to mean an admission that the budget is missing.
“The media should please avoid unnecessary sensationalism. We assure
Nigerians that our timetable for completing work on the budget by
February ending remains sacrosanct and we will work assiduously to
achieve it.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives maintained its stance wednesday
that the budget was not missing despite the revelation during the
Senate plenary that it had been whisked away.
In an effort to reinforce its position, the Clerk of the House of
Representatives, Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori, displayed the document
during plenary.
But it was believed that what was displayed were duplicate copies that
the executive had delivered to the National Assembly before its
withdrawal.
Over 400 of the duplicate copies were said to have been moved by the
executive to the National Assembly before its removal by Enang.
After the document was displayed, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, announced that copies of the budget
proposal were available for members to pick up at the secretariat of
the House Committee on Appropriation.
The Speaker added that the document would only be given to legislative
aides of members upon presentation of identification cards, even as he
lamented the claim on the missing budget, saying it had led to
allegations that the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly was
broken into.
“None of their offices was broken into. But on social media, it is
there that the budget was stolen and some newspapers also published
that. It is necessary to clarify before going to press with such
stories,” he said.
Speaking on the revelations made in the Senate, the Chairman, House
Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Orkev Jev, said the development
over the budget proposal in the Senate had no implication on the House.
“Even if the budget is missing in the Senate, it has no implication for
the House. The joint session of the National Assembly normally takes
place in the green chambers for the simple reason that we have more
room, so it took place here.
“The one document contained copies that were given to the Senate and the House of Representatives,” he said.
Jev added that if for any reason the Senate misplaced its own copy,
they should have reached out to the Clerk of the National Assembly, who
oversees both chambers, for a copy.
“That will not stop the commencement of consideration of the budget
proposal next week as scheduled both in the House and Senate,” Jev said.
Also, the Chairman, House Committee, Media and Publicity, Hon.
Abdulrazak Namdas, in a text message to THISDAY said both chambers would
commence work on the budget.
“Our copy is not missing. We demonstrated that in the chamber today by
publicly displaying the copies of the budget. As far as we are
concerned, the National Assembly will do its constitutional duty by
working on the budget,” Namdas said.
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