From Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Senate has said no amount of anticipated blackmail will stop the National Assembly from approving funds for the purchase of new presidential jets for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, gave the hint yesterday, at an emergency sitting to approve President Tinubu’s request to extend the 2023 supplementary budget implementation from June 30th to December 31st, 2024.
There had been media reports that the National Assembly had received a request from President Tinubu to approve funds for the purchase of new presidential jets, claiming that the existing ones were faulty.
Speaking after extending the lifespan of the supplementary budget, Akpabio said the National Assembly was being blackmailed ahead of a possible request from President Tinubu.
He said with recent happenings across the globe, especially the plane crash that killed the President of Iran and Vice President of Malawi, the National Assembly will not wait for such to happen before it acts.
Akpabio said: “Let me thank senators for their patriotic act. First, they extended the budget life circle to 30th of June. Now, they’ve extended it to 31st of December, 2024. I thank you for your timely intervention. This will enable our executive arm of government to continue with the provision of infrastructure to the people.
“It is not good to run the Senate on what we hear from social media. I was outside the country when a fake news was sent that I vowed to approve a private jet for President Tinubu. I never said that. We will approve things that will change the living standards of the people.
“If the President’s plane is bad, we will approve funds for the repairs. If his vehicles are bad, we’ll approve the funds for it. I’m being blackmailed. We should ignore the fake news and focus on our mandate.
“When you hear stories such as the death of the Vice President of Malawi as a result of a defective plane and then you hear stories such as the death of the President of Iran, as a result of defective helicopter, we should never dream and allow such to be our portion, it will not be.
“The Senate is responsible, the National Assembly is very responsible. We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country.
“Those speculating know very well that something like that may come in future, and if it is a necessity, the Senate will look into it. But , there is nothing like that before us now,” Akpabio said.
Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, had in his earlier remarks, claimed that there were fifth columnists who wanted to destabilise the National Assembly.
He dismissed speculations that the Upper Chamber was debating approval of a presidential aircraft in the 2024 supplementary budget.
“Senate is aware of insinuations that its President, Godswill Akpabio, had at any time indicated that we had a request for purchase of a new plane to be approved for President Tinubu.
“And that President of the Senate had indicated that regardless of what Nigerians were going through, that it would be approved.
“As we sit here, a section of the social media had also been circulating that we had gone into an executive session to discuss the presidential request for a new plane and how we are going to approve it.
“Let me alert Nigerians that there is the presence of a fifth columnist and some other propagandists who are doing everything possible to destabilise this country and also destabilise the parliament.
“I say for the record, as the Leader of this Senate, that there is no request before this us as of yet.”
The Senate Leader added that there had not been a basis for the Red Chamber to debate whether to approve a Presidential aircraft or not.
“It has never been discussed either on the floor of this Senate or among individual senators or at the executive session. There is no such request. If the request comes, it is not about the President of the Senate alone. It is for 469 elected representatives of the Nigerian people to discuss and take a position; 360 in the House of Representatives, 109 in the senate,” he said.
Meanwhile, a heated debate preceded the approval of the request to extend the implementation period of the budget in the House of Representatives. Also debated was the extension of the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget to December 2024.
The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, had during the plenary read a letter by President Tinubu after which the executive bills requesting the extension were introduced.
The Leader of the House, Julius Ihonvbere, moved for the second reading of the bills.
Thereafter, the House leader, Julius Ihonvbere, moved for the second reading of the bills, stating that it will be of immense benefit to the country. He noted that there was no alteration of the contents of the 2023 supplementary budget but “A request for an adjustment of the date to enable the administration to complete the projects that have been started.
However, the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, opposed the motion, saying the extension was unnecessary, especially as the parliament was expecting the 2024 Supplementary budget.
Chinda noted that if the President’s request is approved, it would mean that the country would be running four budgets concurrently.
“We are aware of the importance of the implementation of capital projects and we know what we know what capital projects can do in the lives of our people.
“But the application for extension of the 2023 Appropriation Act is also coming with the request to extend the life of the 2023 supplementary budget. We are also expecting the 2024 supplementary budget.
“A situation where we may have four budgets running concurrently is a bit of a problem. I will suggest that the House leader (Ihonvbere) step this bill down.
“Meanwhile, the projects that were not completed in the 2023 budgets can be transferred to the 2024 supplementary budget.”
Nevertheless, Sada Soli stated that the 2023 supplementary budget cannot be extended without simultaneously extending the implementation life span of the 2023 Appropriation Act.
On his part, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, said though he is a member of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), he agrees with the submission of the minority leader. Nevertheless, Ado-Doguwa appealed to his colleagues to approve the request.
However, his appeal was greeted with shouts of “no, no.”
The development prompted the speaker to call for an executive session. Before the House went into the executive session, stated that the 2023 supplementary Appropriation Act, borders on security.
“The supplementary budget of 2023 is 90 per cent security-related. Because we couldn’t do everything we wanted to do, the President is asking that an extension be granted. Please, let’s kindly support this.”
When the House resumed plenary, the lawmakers suspended relevant rules and took the bills through first and second readings, consideration at the Committee on Supply and third reading.
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