'2017 budget is missing' - Senate alleges, blames the Nigeria Police for its disappearance
The Senate, on Wednesday,
disclosed that the 2017 budget is missing and alleged that the Nigeria
Police stole the documents needed to pass the 2017 budget.
The
allegations were made following a presentation by the chairman of the
Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Danjuma Goje, regarding the
invasion of his home last week, by officers of the Nigerian Police Force
(NPF).
“In
addition, they also took my laptop and to make matters worse they took
18 files from my office. I am so traumatized now and I don’t know which
files is missing, which files is available now. Some of these files have
to do with the work I am doing,” Goje said.
“Like I told you, we are holding a meeting on the budget that last Thursday that they came. So from Thursday
to now we have not been able to meet because some of the papers are not
around, many of us are traumatised, my house as a politician is a
beehives of activities; people are coming from all over the country to
sympathise with me. I have no time to sit and from today we are trying
to start sitting again as appropriation committee to see what we can do
with the budget.”
He added: “I want to
apologise to my colleagues that we could not keep to the timetable you
gave us to lay the budget yesterday (Tuesday) and to get it passed (Wednesday);
and I think it is not our own fault, it is the fault of the police
because the police interfered with the whole of the budget process and I
hope Nigerians will not turn out to blackmail the national assembly
because the process were truncated by the police.”
Subsequently,
the Upper Legislative Chamber directed the Inspector-General of Police
(IGP) , Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to immediately return those documents and a
computer which were taken away from the official residence of Sen. Goje.
In addition, the Senate also asked the Police to tender a public
apology to the National Assembly.
Senate
President Bukola Saraki revealed that the Police had informed the Senate
Committee on Police Affairs that the operation in Goje’s house was
carried out based on a false lead from a whistle blower. He said the
Senate would not take that excuse and stated that an immediate official
explanation on the operation must be provided to the Senate.
“This
matter is very serious, just as Senator Goje has said. It is now over
five days with no statement or comments from the Police to tell us why
this raid was done or to tell us where these files which are very
important to the appropriation process.
“Sadly,
I must tell you informally that the chairman of the Police Committee
told me this morning (yesterday) that the Police are saying that it has
something to do with a whistle blower. If it has to do with a whistle
blower, then the whistle blower misled them.
“If
a whistle-blower misled them, I think that this matter that has come
out publicly like this to embarrass a Senator should be well handled. I
think the Police, like in a civilised society, needs to come out and
accept responsibility.
“If somebody has given
you any wrong informatio, tell the public what you are doing with that
person and if it is an intelligence officer that got the house wrong,
come out and tell us. For five days now, nothing. I think it is
unfortunately.
“I also got an information that
the House of Representatives has also set up an adhoc committee on this
matter and this committee that is set up should work closely with the
House, particularly to ascertain the circumstances surrounding why they
went to Senator Goje’s house.
“If truly it was a
whistle blower and he gave them wrong information which is what the IG
is telling them, what are they doing about that wrong information? Have
they come out to make a public apology for this wrong raid?
“These
are issues that the committee would look into and the files that are
still in Police custody which Goje has told us is affecting the works
before us, also needs to be brought publicly and formally to him because
it was taken publicly.”
The Senate announced
the establishment of an adhoc committee to begin an immediate
investigation into the police operation and also to investigate the
alleged assassination attempt of Senator Dino Melaye.
The
adhoc committee has Senator Jibril Barau (APC, Kano State) as chairman,
also includes Senators Isa Misau (APC, Bauchi State), Chukwuka Utazi
(PDP, Enugu), David Umoru (APC, Niger State).
Afterwards,
IGP, Ibrahim, met privately with the Senate President, Saraki,
supposedly to tender an unofficial apology over the invasion.
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