Jonathan shelves budget presentation over heckling fears

The President requested to present the budget on November 12, but cancelled it after it became apparent that some representatives from his factionalised ruling PDP had planned to disrupt the proceeding.He pushed the presentation forward to yesterday only to postpone it again about three hours to his coming.In a letter he sent to both chambers […]

The President requested to present the budget on November 12, but cancelled it after it became apparent that some representatives from his factionalised ruling PDP had planned to disrupt the proceeding.
He pushed the presentation forward to yesterday only to postpone it again about three hours to his coming.
In a letter he sent to both chambers of the National Assembly, Mr. Jonathan said he was not presenting the budget again because the lawmakers have differing oil benchmark on which budget is mainly based.
But many legislators brushed aside that argument saying such problem had not prevented him from delivering the budget in the past.
Signs that the President would not be around came in the day yesterday. The stage was set for the purely ceremonial event to hold when things begin to unravel.
First the Senate President’s chair was taken off the stage beside that of the Speaker’s. Next, chairs reserved and appropriately marked for ministers and other dignitaries were removed from the House chamber where the annual event normally holds.
Then the red carpet was carefully folded up and workers promptly disappeared with it within the building.
Security men who had already taken positions in the chamber began to file out, and within minutes all security arrangements put in place for the ceremony were dismantled.
Then it became clear to those present what all these meant, the important visitor was no longer coming.
As news of the development spread, non-managerial staff who had been banned from coming to work before 2pm yesterday started showing up in the assembly. Senators and representatives went back to their normal sittings.
Jonathan’s letter sent to both chambers said, “Considering the fact that whereas the Distinguished Senate has approved the MTEF based on a bench mark of $76.5 per barrel, the Honourable House of Representatives has used a bench mark of $79 per barrel, it is in feasible for me to present the budget in the absence of harmonized position in the MTEF.
“In the circumstance, it has become necessary to defer the presentation of the 2014 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly until such a time when both respected chambers would have harmonized their positions on the MTEF, it is my hope that this will be in the shortest possible time.”
However, sources who spoke to Daily Trust on the issue yesterday said the pestering crisis within the ruling party is the major impediment to a smooth budget presentation.
 A faction of the party that has styled itself the nPDP under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje with seven governors in its fold had a rough time during a visit to assembly few months ago.
Angry legislators sympathetic to Baraje promised to give the President, who sides with the other faction, similar treatment when he comes for budget presentation.
Sources said throughout the weekend various meetings were held to resolve the situation but that nothing tangible was achieved.
A meeting convened by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal on Monday night had again failed to pacify the aggrieved nPDP members.
The source said the nPDP MPs said if they must shelved their plot to jeer the president, those responsible for the September 17 incident must send a delegation to the leader of the G7 governors and Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu to apologise in addition to making another apology in the House chamber.
Reacting to the postponement Senator Alkali Jajere (APC, Yobe) said the threat to boo the president should not have stopped him from performing his constitutional responsibility.
“As a politician of African origin he knows that politics here is not decently done and these kinds of things are not uncommon. If I were Mr. President that wouldn’t have stopped me from coming. I will even clap for whoever boos me so long as I have the opportunity to carry out my constitutional responsibility.”
However Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano), accused the president of using the non-harmonization of the MTEF document as an excuse to shie away from presenting the budget while hiding the real motive because even last year, the MTEF was not passed before the budget was presented saying, “I believe the President has another reason but he has majority of members in the Senate and the House of Representatives I see no reason why he should not be here to present the budget, we should not be passing blames on issues like that, last year we passed the budget in December but it was not signed until about June. It’s not our fault; the blame should be passed elsewhere. Nigerian should know the truth.”
But for Senator Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe), the postponement shows some level of indecision on the part of the executive because “they should have waited for the National Assembly to pass the MTEF.”
Rep. Nuhu Abdulrazak Zaki (PDP, Bauchi) said, “With what has happened it means that the president has to sit with our leadership to repair the damage and settle this crisis once and for all because he needs the House to work with.
“It’s obvious that his advisers and handlers have been misleading him. If he is afraid to come and address a gathering of Honourable men and women that are less 500 how then can he face Nigerians in 2015 and we expect to win as a party?”
Meanwhile, the Presidency said it was not true that the fear of heckling forced Jonathan to postpone the budget presentation again.
The president’s political adviser Ahmed Gulak told journalists in Abuja, “This is not true. First, the president is not scared of any body and secondly, the PDP is one strong united party and as such no one can embarrass the President in the National Assembly.”
Also, presidential spokesman, Rueben Abati told journalists that President Jonathan rescinded his decision to present the 2013 budget to the National Assembly yesterday in order to ensure strong inter-governmental harmony between the executive and legislature. He said the budget document has been ready for over a week.