The Presidency on Thursday responded to a statement credited to Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, lambasting President Muhammadu Buhari over the 2018 budget controversy.
Melaye had urged President Buhari to stop playing to the gallery over the 2018 budget.
The Presidency on Thursday responded to a statement credited to Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, lambasting President Muhammadu Buhari over the 2018 budget controversy.
Melaye had urged President Buhari to stop playing to the gallery over the 2018 budget.
The lawmaker was quoted saying, “I noticed that PMB is trying to whip up sentiments against the National Assembly again by alleging that the 2018 budget was padded.
“What the President is authorised to do constitutionally is to present the National Assembly with a bill. A bill is a work in progress and not the finished work.
“The National Assembly is not just expected to rubber stamp whatever bill the President presents. If this was the norm then there would have been no need for the Constitution to direct that the Bill be submitted to the N/A in the first place.”
Reacting, Buhari’s aide, Lauretta Onochie on her Twitter page said Dino Melaye should not tarnish the image of the NASS further.
“A National Assembly with Sen Melaye who is standing trial for criminal offences and who commutes between a Court and the House of Senate, does not need more help to further smear it,” Onochie tweeted.
