The presidency has denied the president was afraid of the lawmakers.
President Goodluck Jonathan surprised federal lawmakers Tuesday with a last minute decision to suspend an appearance at a rescheduled joint Senate and House of Representatives session where he was to present the 2014 budget.
The session was earlier scheduled to hold last week Tuesday. The president said at the time he needed a reschedule due to exigencies. This time, the president said he was suspending the presentation to allow the two chambers adopt a common price benchmark in dollars for oil in 2014-a compulsory and key element of annual budget planning.
But the reason for the president’s absence was much complex, lawmakers and other sources confirmed Tuesday. The president acted in the final minutes to side-step a planned protest by lawmakers loyal to the Abubakar Baraje faction of the crisis-ridden ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The aggrieved lawmakers planned to heckle Mr. Jonathan as he spoke and to disrupt proceedings, a move likely to have drawn a response from the president’s supporters with the likelihood of an attendant security implication for the president.
The plot by members of the Baraje faction of the PDP, had the support of most lawmakers of the All Progressive Congress, APC. After the suspension of the joint session Tuesday, with reports the president may choose to only transmit budget copies without appearing, some APC members said they will file a motion before the House to insist the presentation be done only by the president.
The halt with the budget presentation came as the clearest indication yet how much the crisis in the PDP has affected governance.
The plan by the aggrieved lawmakers heightened Monday evening as the legislators met for hours to strategize on an action, which they characterized as retaliation to an embarrassing treatment meted out to their leader, Mr. Baraje, by lawmakers loyal to the president and the Bamanga Tukur leadership of the troubled party, when Mr. Baraje visited the assembly earlier.
At that meeting, members of the House of Representatives loyal to Mr. Tukur, heckled and jeered at Mr. Baraje as he stood to speak. The opposing lawmakers have since vowed to reply. The lawmakers have also been irked by some of the president’s policies and the recent suspension of some members of the party.
As the plot thickened Monday, our sources said Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, was drafted to rein in his colleagues, to no avail.
Lawmakers who spoke informally said the president possibly acted after becoming convinced the lawmakers were resolved to act.
But in the president’s letter dated Monday, November 18-likely written late Monday in view of the unfolding events- and received by the National Assembly on Tuesday just before sitting, Mr. Jonathan said he decided not to attend the session any longer as the two chambers had yet to harmonize their position oil price benchmark.
“Whereas the distinguished Senate has approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) based on a benchmark of $76.5 per barrel, the Honourable House of Representatives has used a benchmark of $79 per barrel, it is infeasible for me to present the budget in the absence of a harmonized position on the MTEF,” the president said.
While the House denied any plan to “embarrass” the president, it rejected Mr. Jonathan’s argument about the disparity on benchmark as a veritable reason for rescheduling the budget session.
“To start with, in 2011, the two chambers did not pass the same benchmark and we still had budget presentation. In 2012, the House passed the MTEF and the Senate did not, yet we still had budget presentation. So it is left for you to read between the lines,” said House spokesperson, Zakary Mohammed.
On plans to heckle the president, Mr. Mohammed said “The House is made of responsible people and cannot descend that low to do that.”
He said the president’s only presidential aides, Reuben Abati, and Ahmed Gulak, can provide answers to the president’s real reason for calling off the session.
Lawmakers who spoke questioned why it turned out that the president only realized the benchmarks had not been harmonized by Tuesday morning-if that indeed was the reason.
Speaking at the presidential villa, Mr. Abati told reporters on Tuesday that the president acted to ensure what he called “inter-governmental harmony”.
“Previous acrimonies were blamed on failure of inter- governmental relationship,” Mr. Abati said.
Also speaking, Mr. Gulak, the Chief Political Adviser to Mr. Jonathan, also denied that the president was avoiding the National Assembly over the threats by the lawmakers.
Still, reflective of the intrigues the presidency refused to admit, Mr. Gulak advised aggrieved members of the party to seek redress through appropriate channels or leave the party honourably.
“This is not true. First, the President is not scared of any body and secondly, the PDP is one strong united party and as such no one can embarrass the President in the National Assembly,” he said.
He added: “These people are not on ground. They do not even know how to do political calculation properly. They should stay in their states and develop it and make impact in their respective states instead of doing things that will not profit them.”
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