BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Outspoken Senator Dino Melaye on Thursday declared that the powers and authority of the National Assembly cannot be eroded by the Presidency, stressing that the Federal legislature is not a department of the Presidency.
Senator Dino, who reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s condemnation of alterations to the 2018 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly, challenged the Presidency to tell Nigerians its percentage of capital budget implementation in the last three years of this administration:
Melaye further said; “I notice that President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to whip up sentiments against the National Assembly again by alleging that the 2018 budget was padded.
“What the President is authorised to do constitutionally is to present the National Assembly with a bill.”
He explained that a bill is a work in progress and not the finished work, adding that the reason the Constitution directs the Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly is that it expects the National Assembly to vet it and make inputs into such a Bill before passing it as the Appropriation Act.
Melaye also said; “The National Assembly is not just expected to rubber stamp whatever Bill the President presents. If this was the norm, then there would have been no need for the Constitution to direct that the Bill be submitted to the National Assembly in the first place.
“Mr. President should therefore refrain from playing to the gallery and milking the naivety of the masses on the issue.
“In any event, he reserves the prerogative of refusing to append his signature to the Bill passed if it meets with his displeasure. He is also free to return the Bill to the National Assembly unsigned with a note indicating his areas of disaffection.”
Senator Dino Melaye appealed to President Buhari to as a matter of necessity halt his “chicanery and smear campaign” against the National Assembly.
