Fresh report indicated that the crisis between the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, and the National Assembly, over the 2017 budget, is far from over.
Recall, that the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives where in shock and disagreement last week, over the alleged statement made by the Acting President, over who has what powers to do what concerning the National Budget. The National Assembly had accused the Acting President among other things, for downplaying their power to tinker with the budget.
Consequently, the Lawmakers vowed not to entertain any virement or supplementary budget proposals that would come from the Executive.
According to Vanguard, the Lawmakers, who had earlier agreed to entertain virement or supplementary budget proposals from the Presidency prior to the signing of the document last Monday, by Osinbajo, had made a major U-turn, because they are obviously angered by the statements credited to Osinbajo, which challenged their constitutional powers to tinker with the Appropriation Bill.
Reacting bitterly to the statement credited to the Acting President, the National Assembly described the Acting President’s statements as “medicine after death,” designed to incite members of the public against the Legislature.
The Lawmakers, who are now angry that the Executive was only setting the Legislature up for another round of public bashing, however, accused Osinbajo of “bad faith” and “playing to the gallery.” While accusing Osinbajo of undermining the Legislature, some of the Lawmakers are insisting that unless he comes up with a counter-statement, no request for virement or supplementary appropriation would be entertained from him.
According to a top Senator, the statements credited to the Acting President negated the agreement he had with their leadership before the signing of the budget. He said: “If he felt strongly that we do not have the powers to change anything in the budget proposal and estimates, then he should not have assented to it, and he should know that now that he has signed it, it is a valid law of the land, and like the Speaker noted in his comments on the issue last Thursday, he should know that it is an impeachable offence not to implement it,” the Senator noted, who pleaded anonymity.
