The outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has blasted President Muhammadu Buhari for always blaming people for his personal
The outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has blasted President Muhammadu Buhari for always blaming people for his personal failings.
Buhari had on Monday said “I asked them how they felt to hold the country at ransom for seven months without passing a budget. Unfortunately, they were not hurting me; they were hurting the country. So, really, in terms of patriotism, I think I rated them very low indeed.If the National Assembly takes seven months to pass a budget, then we should be commended for the much that we have achieved, and can still achieve. I personally feel very disappointed. I spoke with the leaders of the National Assembly on the issue that seven months is a long time to work on a budget.”
Reacting to the allegation, Dogara said: “His first budget was the 2016 budget, which was submitted on December 22, 2015, exactly nine days to the end of the fiscal year. The minimum time the National Assembly requires to pass a budget is three months. But he presented it just nine days to 2016.
“What Nigerians didn’t know and the President won’t say is that, the Executive through the various ministries continued to propose additional projects to be included in the 2018 budget even as at April and May which further delayed the passage of the 2018 budget. These were communicated officially and if anyone is in doubt, the letters are there with the dates they were written and received. But here’s Buhari blaming the National Assembly.’
Known for buck passing and blame game, Buhari in the past few days and weeks, has had to blame others for his inefficiency in a desperate move to exonerate himself from any blame or failure of the Executive under his leadership to execute projects across the country. Very recently, he blamed all his predecessors for failing to build infrastructure.
Some weeks ago, he even blamed the media for failing to showcase his achievements. He said, “I’m very disappointed with the Nigerian press. They didn’t give this government the credit of the go back to the land programme.”
“However, it is disingenuous for President Muhammad Buhari to be blaming the National Assembly for his government’s inability to implement budget and execute projects that affect the lives of Nigerians in the last three years. To set the record straight, this is a President who, from the inception of his government didn’t show any sign that he was well prepared and ready for the job he sought for four times in 16 years and for which we voted for him,” Dogara said.
