2016 Nigeria Budget was actually stolen – Hon. Omogbehin
Member representing Okitipupa/Irele federal constituency of Ondo State, Hon. Mike Omogbehin, on Tuesday said it was shameful and disappointing that copies of the budget, which were distributed at Tuesday’s sitting in the House of Representatives were different from the version that was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on 22nd December, 2015.
In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST in Abuja, Omogbehin said it was the height of deceit taken too high that the Executive arm of government connived with some elements within the fold of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take away budget documents illegally, create a scenario of confusion, only for a doctored copy to be presented at Tuesday’s plenary.
“It is deceitful and an outright stealing, the connivance of executive arm of government with APC elements within to take away our budget secretly only for it to be doctored and they want us to deliberate on that”, he querried.
He explained that the leadership of the House ought to have distributed original copies with what he described as ‘doctored’ version to enable them spot out areas of convergence and divergence, but wondered, that it was the latter that was distributed.
“I just got copies of the latest, alongside the communication from President Muhammadu Buhari, which was read on the floor today, without the old one”, he said.
Omogbehin stressed that the opposition may not be marooned into accepting what was presented, noting that they would be critical towards making sure that the contents were in the best interest of the nation.
He added that the APC-led parliament was imposing veto power on the legislature.
He, however, posited that contemplation of impeaching President Buhari was out of the question, on the grounds that Nigeria democracy was still nascent, despite the fact that budget issue was an impeachable offence.
“This is my personal opinion that I will not subscribe to impeaching Mr. President because of our nascent democracy”, he noted.
Taking assessment on the state of the nation under the present administration, he pointed out that APC led government had failed so far, while insisting that Buhari was only tackling corruption and putting the Peoples Democratic Party in bad light without a forward looking plan.
“Thus far, this government has failed Nigerians as they are busy fighting corruption without a workplan to move the nation forward”, he maintained.
He further lamented that no construction was going on anywhere in Nigeria under capital project, stressing that
“they were accusing the PDP of bad governance in the last sixteen years without considering the rot when military ruled, before PDP took over.
“The change slogan of APC has turned to be negative and I want Nigerians to be awake so as not to be easily deceived anymore.”
He reminded the ruling party that Buhari has 48 milestones out of which 8 has been taken, noting that time was fast ticking away.
“I am a project management expert and I know Buhari has 48 milestones out of which 8 has been used; so his time is moving fast”, he maintained.
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