There was controversy in the Nigerian Senate on Thursday as the Senate accused the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Senate, Ita Enang, of tampering with and changing the contents of the 2016 appropriation bill before making the document available to the lawmakers.
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It will be recalled that President Buhari presented the 2016 budget proposal last December before a joint session of the National Assembly.
Senators however disclosed on Tuesday that the documents presented by the president were missing. The senate later asked a committee to investigate the matter.
READ: Nigeria parliament ‘loses 2016 budget documents’
At its plenary on Thursday, the Senate said Mr. Enang, himself a former senator, changed the contents of the original document as presented by Mr. Buhari.
The senate president, Bukola Saraki, disclosed this at the end of the executive session that lasted over two hours.
“What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President,” Mr. Saraki stated and re-affirmed in a message on his official Facebook page.
The chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Aliyu Sabi, further emphasised the Senate allegation when he briefed journalists after plenary.
According to a report by Premium Times, Mr. Sabi said, “We are duty bound to consider the budget that has been laid by Mr. President; we are waiting for the soft copy that we can produce it ourselves.”
He, however, did not give details of the discrepancies between the said original version and the allegedly doctored version distributed by Mr. Enang.
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