The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, today weighed in on the budget padding saga the house of Representatives is currently embroiled in. In a statement, the PDP questioned the credibility of former Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin.
The statement also called into question the integrity of the house, Yakubu Dogara as well as other principal members of the house.
1. We watched the interview granted by Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin to @ChannelsTv & have followed his “revelations” with growing…1/2
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
… concern & bemusement. His revelations raise more questions than they give answers. 2/2
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
2. The ruckus caused by these allegations call the integrity of #Budget2016 to question. This budget process has been an absolute fiasco.
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
3. It is imperative to point out that at the onset President Buhari proposed a N6.08tr budget. This is the same figure as the budget…1/2
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
… passed by NASS. On the surface, this fact looks innocuous but is the foundation upon which the entire sham is founded. 2/2
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
The PDP went on to state that the Presidency had earlier raised an alarm about insertions into the budget at the as well as Mr. President’s reluctance to sign the budget until “it was cleaned up”.
6. This whole sham begs many questions:
Qa. Is this the cleaned up version about which Hon. Jibrin speaks?— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
Qb. Why is Hon. Jibrin only just speaking after being relieved of his post as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee? 1/2
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
7. It is very depressing that as at today 01/08/2016 we are still debating the integrity of #Budget2016 & not the percentages of performance
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
They said in 30 days, the APC led FG is required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act to submit the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the 2017 budget & the APC led NASS is required to commence the process of approving it and are hard pressed to see how this requirement will be fulfilled within the time frame required by law.
Finally, it hopes that the APC pulls itself together and do what is required of it.
10. Finally we must realise that this presents an opportunity to reform the budgeting process to ensure that this charade never occurs again
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016
11. Hopefully, the APC will soon put its in-house squabbles behind it & pay attention to the task for which it was elected – governance.
— PDP Nigeria (@PdpNigeria) August 1, 2016