ALARM! Tinubu deceived us with empty boxes as budget, forced us to debate proposals we haven’t seen – Lawmakers

*Development confirmed by Galambi in earlier BBC interview

By OUR REPORTER

And on Wednesday, the fact of publicly singing solidarity song: “On your mandate we shall stand” by Godwin Akpabio-led National Assembly members, using a parliament of all political parties to patronise the personality of Tinubu when he visited for the presentation of the supposed budget proposals, finally showed that the legislature – like the allegedly captured judiciary – as currently constituted is equally compromised and unrepresentative of Nigeria.

The third arm of government, Executive, which manipulative involvement in the scandals currently rubbishing the other two arms; legislature and judiciary, may have finally balanced the “equation-in-absurdity” with shocking revelations that emerged weekend from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital as its alleged style of ruling by deceit came clear.

This was as some Federal lawmakers raised the alarm saying what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented to joint session of the Nigerian National Assembly on Wednesday November 30, 2023 and which he called 2024 budget proposals were nothing but mere make-believe, empty boxes without content.

They were raising the alarm that President Tinubu submitted no documents backing the 2024 appropriation bill he proposed, by his long speech, which he read before a well televised joint parliamentary session on the said day.

Among the complaining lawmakers were two members of the National Assembly who reportedly informed Peoples Gazette that the president’s action was detrimental to the social contract between the parliament, the presidency and the people of Nigeria.

“No lawmakers can say they have seen what the president presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday,” a lawmaker said via telephone Friday evening, accoding to the report.

“They made us debate the matter yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) without showing us the facts and figures of the president’s proposals. This is unfortunate for the Federal Republic,” he said.

Another lawmaker said, “Nigerians should cry out and ask the president and his people when they would tell us what happened to his 2024 budget.”

“He needs to present everything before us because we have the power of appropriation as members of the National Assembly,” the lawmaker added.

Both lawmakers spoke under anonymity to avoid being victimised by the ethics committee of the assembly. One of them cited his ties to the president as unfavourable to his open commentary on the matter, saying it could engender a fraught relationship between him and the presidency, the People’s Gazette reported.

He also slammed Senate President Godswill Akpabio and other principal officers for allowing the president to get away with the deceit, insisting that “the president gave us the overhead summary, but not the details, which usually come in bulky paperwork.”

Spokespersons for the Senate, House of Representatives and State House reportedly did not take questions on the matter between Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

The president had on September 29 presented a proposed appropriation of N27.6 trillion to lawmakers, leaving out the breakdown of the legislation to sidestep scrutiny of lawmakers ahead of crucial votes on it. They held debates on Thursday and Friday on the budget, even though they said they were still being kept in the dark.

The lawmakers spoke with The Gazette hours after Yusuf Galambi, another Federal lawmaker, accused President Bola Tinubu of sending ’empty’ boxes without the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday.

In an interview with BBC Hausa Service on Friday, Mr Galambi, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) who represents Jigawa State’s Gwaram Federal Constituency, said Mr Tinubu read out his budget speech, including proposals for sectors but did not give the lawmakers the documents as was the tradition by previous presidents.

“We are confused because this has never been done before, not even in our dreams,” he said. “We, therefore, think this is deceitful; if you are not ready, why bring it before us? What you would have done is simply to tell us you are not ready, simple.”

Nigerian annual appropriation season is often packed with controversy as rampant sharp practices are detected and raised in the media.

But Mr Tinubu’s failure to present a budget document to the parliament days after purportedly reading from it in a televised session of the parliament appeared to be shaping up as the most serious public ridicule the country has faced since early 2016.

It will be recalled that a budget document President Muhammadu Buhari presented in 2016 before a jount session of the then Bukola Saraki/Yakubu Dogara-led National Assembly was purportedly stolen, causing a long-drawn recrimination between the parliament and the presidency.

A new flash drive was later sent to the parliament amid claims that it contained grossly edited items that were not in the proposal originally submitted in late 2015. The administration at the time denied any wrongdoing.

The DEFENDER, however, reports on Saturday that things have not being well with Nigeria currently with the nature of leadership the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu is being provided just in the six months he has been in power.

Tinubu has been alleged to be behind the judment scandals rocking the nation’s judiciary thus heading the country to chaos with protests erupting almost on daily basis now in Kano, where attempt by Court of Appeal in Abuja to upturn decision of over a million voters, who elected Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on March 18, has been met with stiff resistance.

And on Wednesday, the fact of publicly singing solidarity song: “On your mandate we shall stand” by Godwin Akpabio-led National Assembly members, using a parliament of all political parties to patronise the personality of Tinubu when he visited for the presentation of the supposed budget proposals, finally showed that the legislature – like the allegedly captured judiciary – as currently constituted is equally compromised and unrepresentative of Nigeria.