Just recently Nigerian House of Representatives threatened President Umar Yar’Adua over his failure to adhere to the implementation of the 2008 budget.
To refresh our memory over issue, the chairman house committee on Finance John Enoh brought a motion to the floor of the house notifying the house of a memo allegedly written by the Minister of Finance urging Ministers and head of government agencies to disregard the version of the budget signed into law by the president but to implement the President’s version of the budget. John Enoh and some aggrieved members fiercely blasted the President for jettison the budget he signed into law. They did not hesitate to remind him that his action is a breach of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria punishable by Impeachment.
To some political observers and analysts, this is not an unusual scenario in Nigeria politics, you will recall that immediate President Olusegun Obasanjo used better part of his 8 years administration to fight the parliament over budgets crisis.
We all remember how Na’Abba, Okadigbo and Ayim led National Assembly rattled Obasanjo over the issue of budget implementation. I am however surprised that the present administration would inherit such flagrant, arrogant and abrasive attitude of immediate President Olusegun Obasanjo, My worry here is that where two elephants fight, it’s always the grass that suffers; in this case it is not the grass but the good and indigent people of Nigerians that will suffer.
My question here is that is it right for President Yar’Adua to implement his own version of the budget rather than the one passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly and signed into law by him? Are the House members only crying wolf because their palms were not adequately greased? Whose interest is the House protecting, theirs or Nigerian interest? Your comment counts. These politicians and their aides are reading them. Let us tell the president or the house they are wrong, this is the only way we can contribute own quota to our fledging democracy, God bless Nigeria!!!! Written By Oludare Sunday Fase, Editor-in-Chief/African Examiner
