Saraki, Dogara block Buhari’s move to change 2016 budget

– Saraki reportedly turn Presidency request to manipulate the contents of the 2016 budget through the backdoor -Presidency is soliciting the assistance of the leaders of the National Assembly to include fresh details omitted by the Presidency in the 2016 Appropriation Bill


Senate president Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari when the going was good. The controversy over 2016 budget is far from over as Senate president, Bukola Saraki has moved against attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari to doctor the 2016 budget. According to a report by Signal, Mr Saraki who initially refused to attend a meeting between the vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to solicit the assistance of the leaders of the National Assembly to include fresh details omitted by the Presidency in the 2016 Appropriation Bill.



But after pleading from Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari to Saraki he later attended the meeting where he reportedly told Vice-President: “You can’t strip us naked in public and then dress us in white robes behind closed doors.” “Sorry Mr. Vice President, we cannot help you. Let us continue to follow the law and abide with our constitutional duties in the interest of Nigeria”, Saraki reportedly told Osinbajo in refusal to manipulate the contents of the 2016 budget through the backdoor. Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara  was also said to have re-echo what Mr Saraki said noting clearly that the President and his top government officials had repeatedly abused the fundamentals for any cordial relationship. Saraki is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for discrepancies observed in his asset declaration while he served as a two-term governor of Kwara State.


The trial is widely believed to be a political witch-hunt masterminded by the Presidency and some elements within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who were unhappy with Saraki’s emergence as Senate President. President Buhari, a retired military general himself, was said to have described Saraki’s emergence as a “coup.” Meanwhile, Reno Omokri, an aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan has berated President Muhammadu Buhari over a statement credited to president that he will treat pipeline vandals the way Boko Haram terror group are being treated.