Yar'Adua calls off budget session over N' Assembly rift
From Alifa Daniel and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
THE planned budget presentation by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives did not hold yesterday after all. Two separate Army Bands had, in fact, set up their separate bands at the two chambers of the two houses. But when information filtered in that the presentation was no longer holding, the soldiers dismantled their bands with a characteristic dispatch and vanished.
In the past, only one Army Band was sent to play ceremonial music in the Chamber of the House of Representatives, the venue of past budget presentations.
Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba Aji, confirmed to journalists that the yearly event had been called off indefinitely.
What actually led to the sudden cancellation remained a mystery, despite Aji's explanation, because, according to a National Assembly source, "the Presidency had been aware of the disagreement between both Houses since Wednesday afternoon."
However, President Yar'Adua and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set to wade into the face-off between the two houses to ensure the timely presentation of the 2010 budget proposal.
Aji, who disclosed this during a press conference to announce the indefinite postponement of the budget presentation said: "Efforts are being made, both the party and our side (Presidency). We are trying to see that they take less time to resolve this. I am sure that they (Senate and House of Representatives) are capable of resolving their differences and it is not something that is new. This kind of thing happens in bicameral legislatures all around the world. So, it is not something that they will not be able to put behind them. So, while we are confident that they are capable of doing that very soon, we are nonetheless giving them time to do so."
Explaining the rationale behind the postponement of the budget presentation, Aji said: "Our purpose of today's briefing is to inform you that the scheduled presentation of the 2010 budget before a joint session of the National Assembly will not hold as schedule. It will now hold at a later date. That is the purpose of the briefing. It is not holding because we have a policy of non-interference with respect to separation of powers... so we are allowing them time to put their house in order."
Senator Aji denied reports that the postponement was a ploy to cover the fact that the budget was not ready, saying: "The budget has been ready long time ago; even the President's speech is ready. And we do not need excuses such as this. Besides, if you look at the provision of Section 81 of the Constitution, it just says that the President shall cause to be prepared and laid before each chamber of the National Assembly. So, we do not need excuses such as this. We are ready with the budget. And let me tell you that the President is in perfect health, no doubt about that."
He expressed confidence that the budget will be passed before the year runs out.
The Guardian learnt yesterday that it was a botched meeting between Senate President David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Wednesday evening that led to the cancellation of the budget presentation.
But the PDP leadership has met with the National Assembly principal officers and ordered them to resolve their differences so that President Yar'Adua can make his budget presentation next Tuesday.
However, it was also learnt that separate meetings of principal officers of each of the two Houses was slated for yesterday evening to independently review the directive of the party leadership and report back.
Based on Section 53 of the 1999 Constitution, the President of the Senate is recognised as the Chairman of any Joint Session of the National Assembly.
Section 53 (2) reads: At any joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives -
(a) the President of the Senate shall preside, and in his absence, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall preside; and
(b) in the absence of the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) of this sub-section, the Deputy President of the Senate shall preside, and in his absence, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall preside.
In the absence of the persons mentioned in the foregoing provisions of this section, such member of the Senate or the House of Representatives or of the joint sitting, as the case may be, as the Senate or the House of Representatives or the joint sitting may elect for that purpose shall preside.
The silence of the constitution and the rule books of both Houses of the Assembly on the venue of any joint meeting has always been resolved in the favour of the House Chamber because it is more spacious. But the Senate opted to alter it this year for reasons not unconnected to what a senator described as the lack of respect displayed by some federal lawmakers.
Both Mark and Bankole were said to have met informally on Wednesday where both men agreed that there was need to meet to iron out grey areas before the brewing disagreement got out of hand.
A subsequent meeting was fixed for later that evening but the alleged absence of a particular principal officer led to its cancellation.
"We learnt that all calls to the line of that officer got no response and he did not return the calls. So, there was no choice but to call off the meeting on Wednesday night. I believe everyone thought that the issue was going to be resolved at that meeting so that the President could come in today (yesterday). When it did not hold, the President stayed away," a source added.
Since the change of leadership in the House of Representatives, the frequency of meetings between the leadership of both Houses has dropped considerably for what National Assembly sources described as "political differences."
Both Mark and Bankole have often denied that there was any disagreement between them. But last January, a walk-out by 44 members of the House from the retreat of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR) in Minna, Niger State, brought the disagreement between both Houses to the fore.
National Assembly analysts have attributed the "slow down" of passage of laws by the lawmakers to this disagreement.
