The Peoples Democratic Party has asked the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, over the missing budget scandal rocking the National Assembly.
PDP also demanded the resignation of two ministers, and the Central Bank governor.
The Senate on Thursday accused a Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari, Ita Enang, of presenting to lawmakers an altered version of the 2016 budget.
Senators had earlier said on Tuesday that budget documents presented by the President in December were missing, prompting a senate investigation.
At its plenary on Thursday, the Senate said Enang, a former senator and now Buhari’s assistant on National Assembly, changed the contents of the original document as presented by Buhari.
The Senate President Bukola Saraki, said, “What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President”.
The PDP said in a statement by its acting National Chairman Uche Secondus, that its National Working Committee “rose from a meeting Thursday charging the National Assembly to commence impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari for the various constitutional breaches especially the submission of two version of the 2006 budget”.
The party said the National Assembly should thoroughly investigate the “shameful act, including the distortion and banding of figures to accommodate their personal interests and ensure that appropriate sanctions are meted out to whoever has a hand in the dubious action that has brought embarrassment to the legislative body”.
The party also asked the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun, and Minister of Budget and National Planning Udo Udoma, to resign “having failed to provide the much-needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy resulting in the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar”.
Also, the party asked the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to resign “for plunging the country’s currency policy into chaos, an action that has thrown investors into total confusion.
“We sympathize with Nigerians who are seriously undergoing terrible hardship because of the now obvious inept leadership of APC despite the promise of one Naira to a dollar.
“What hope can a government that allows its currency to break a 43-year-old record crashing to over N300 to one dollar offer and yet does not show it has clear focus of what to do?” the party said.
The party said, “APC government, rather than address very grievous national issues created by its lack of capacity to govern, has instead resorted to violation of peoples rights in the name of fighting corruption”.
APC reacts
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The PDP attacked the President Thursday after the Senate accused the Presidency of altering the 2016 budget.
Senate President Bukola Saraki, said a copy of the budget received from the President was different from what his aide Ita Enang, distributed to its members.
Lawmakers had earlier said that the original document was missing.
In a statement Thursday, PDP asked the National Assembly to impeach the President, and called for the resignation of the Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, and budget and National Planning Minister Udo Udoma.
The party also demanded the resignation of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
APC dismissed the call as “comical”.
“It is confusing and worrisome that the PDP calls for an investigation into the budget issue and at the same time calls for the removal and resignation of the aforementioned,” the party said in a statement by its National Secretary Mala Buni.
“In both content and context, PDP’s statement constitute a distraction to the National Assembly.”
The party said it was confident that the 8th National Assembly would not be distracted by the PDP in “its new desperate plot to divert attention from the ongoing investigation into mind-boggling cases of corruption perpetuated under its defunct 16-year rule”.
Senator Ita Enang reacts too
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly (Senate) Ita Enang, says he will not respond to an allegation by the Senate that he doctored the 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in December.
He described the matter as “sensitive”.
Lawmakers said on Tuesday that the budget documents were missing, prompting the Senate to set up a committee to investigate the matter.
On Thursday, after a closed-door session, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the copy of the 2016 budget made available to the Senate was different from the original copy presented by Buhari in December, last year.
“What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President,” Saraki stated, referring to Enang.
The claim was later reinforced by the Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi, after the plenary. He said the Senate would obtain a soft copy of the original document, produce it in hard copies and consider it next week.
Neither Saraki nor Aliyu gave details of the discrepancies.
But speaking withlater, Enang, who is a former Senator, said he would not comment on the development.
He said the matter was between “two of my bosses”, in reference to the Presidency and the National Assembly.
“I do not want to comment on the matter at the moment,” Enang said. “It is a very sensitive matter involving two of my bosses – the National Assembly and Presidency. I don’t want to talk about them.”
-PremiumTimes