Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mr. Ismail Kawu, have appeared before the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s headquarters to say that the controversial 2016 budget, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law, was not padded.
This came against the background of the lingering crisis in the House of Representatives over the budget with reference to the alleged padding.
Former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who floated the idea of padding, faulted the Presidency1, insisting that the allegation of padding should be investigated. Jibrin had accused the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and some officers of the House of padding the 2016 budget.
The APC had intervened in the matter last week, as its leadership separately met with Dogara and Jibrin. The efforts, however, failed.
Enang, while addressing journalists after the meeting with the party’s leadership, said: “I am here on the invitation of the APC leadership with my colleague (Kawu) to answer questions on the 2016 Appropriation Act. We have given explanation on every issue. There is nothing, to our knowledge, like padding of the budget. The budget, as assented to by the President, is the budget passed by the National Assembly and it is being executed.
“For now, the party is handling it as a domestic issue; a party issue. All of us have been told not to make public comments because the matter is still under consideration.
“We will not want to go into the details so that we will not breach the party’s directive or pre-empt the outcome of the party’s probe.’’
When asked if the Presidency had cleared Dogara of padding the budget, Enang said the Presidency would not “draw conclusions.”
He said: “I will say we came here as persons who work as liaison officers on the budget. The party wanted us to make clarifications and we have made those clarifications.
“We will not draw any conclusion. Please, let us not go too far by mentioning any office. Let it be that two of us have appeared before the party.”
When asked again if the Presidency’s denial of the padding of the budget had dismissed Jibrin’s allegation, Enang stated that there was nothing like padding in the legislature.
He said the legislature had the constitutional duty to amend the Appropriation Bill sent to it by the President.
“In all our years of legislative engagement, we have yet to find in the legislative lexicon the word, ‘padding.’ When the budget is presented before the legislature, the legislature is to consider the budget and pass as it deems fit.
“So, what the legislature passes becomes the Appropriation Act upon assent. Therefore, any word which has yet to crystallise in legislative lexicon, you cannot hear us mention it.”
Meanwhile, Jibrin has insisted that he stood by his demand for the probe of Speaker Dogara and others over the alleged padding.
The statement which he issued on the issue read in part: “now that I have exposed the fact that Speaker Dogara and the three others have padded the budget, padding is no longer an offence. Shame!
“There is massive individual and institutional corruption in the House of Representatives. All Nigerians have a responsibility to avail themselves of this rare opportunity to flush out corruption in the House.’’ [myad]
