Budget presentation: We showed our strength, says APC Reps

The caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives said its reaction to the booing of President Muhammadu Buhari at Wednesday’s budget presentation was spontaneous and not planned.

The lawmakers said they were duty-bound to protect the President, having been convinced of the modest efforts he is putting in to set the country and the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

Oluwarotimi Agunsoye (Lagos) told The Nation that countering opposition parties jeering a the President was a duty for APC members.

He said: “We didn’t plan anything. What happened was that in the morning on arriving at the National Assembly, we noticed, having heard that PDP members were planning to disrupt the whole proceeding and embarrass the President, we knew we had to act.

“If you noticed, we couldn’t display normal placards; we only scribbled our thoughts on whatever we were able to lay our hands on.

“What we did was to show our strength; we showed them that we are still in the majority.

“What got us fired up is the fact that having done so much to set the country and the economy on the path of growth and development, for reasons best known to them, they still want to bring the nation backward and they felt that to embarrass the President was the best way.

“There is no way we are going to allow that; that was why we rose to the occasion.

“What you saw yesterday (Wednesday) was corruption fighting back and that is sad.”

Nnanna Igbokwe (Imo), who corroborated Agunsoye’s account, gave an insight into what transpired among the lawmakers before the arrival of Mr. President.

He said: “I can state that the APC Caucus of the House of Representatives was unaware of the plan of the PDP Caucus to obstruct and prevent the presentation of the budget.

“You can agree with me that if we had the slightest knowledge – we are parliamentarians, we are colleagues – we would have taken every necessary step to lobby our colleagues.

“But I think they had a plan to create a scene like you saw and maybe as a way of making their voice to be heard to show the seriousness about the concerns they have or the issues in contention, hoping that it may give them the desired result.

“It is unfortunate, because whatever it is, there are better approaches you may use in addressing those issues as parliamentarians and when it became obvious, within the floor, it was now sensed and that had to cause an emergency (executive) meeting to be called where the leadership of the House, the Speaker personally appealed to everybody, given the intelligence available to him that there was need for us to comport ourselves.

“He appealed that it was  a major assignment; we have other avenues to checkmate the government or to solve the issues brought before us, and presentation does not mean approval.”