Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara on Tuesday had interrupted proceedings to read President Muhamadu Buhari’s letter on the corrections made on the 2016 Budget.
This action didn’t go down well with some members of the People’s Democratic Party in the House while opposing Buhari’s letter.
Buhari said in the letter that, “At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule. That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.”
But soon after Dogara finished reading the letter, minority Leader Leo Ogor, who led the protest, came under constitutional point of order citing Section 81 and several provisions of the House Rules.
Ogor said based on constitutional provisions, the powers to amend any budget lie with the parliament but that based on Buhari’s letter, it appeared the president wanted to usurp their powers. He therefore advised that the House should set aside Buhari’s letter.
But Dogara said based on the content of Buhari’s letter, there was no place that the president said he was amending the budget. However, PDP lawmakers did not allow Dogara to make his point clearly as they kept interrupting him. It took some time before Dogara calmed them down and continued with his comments.
But APC members on the floor applauded Dogara throughout the period he was making his point. Another PDP lawmaker Rep Linus Okorie came under another point of order saying based on their rules, Dogara was supposed to read the letter at the commencement of plenary not after their sitting has gone far.