President Muhammadu Buhari has disassociated himself from the allegation that his Special Adviser on National Assembly matters, Senator Ita Enang, broke into the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and smuggled in a “fake 2016 budget.”
Speaking exclusively to Post-Nigeria, the President through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, maintained that Buhari was ignorant of Enang’s actions.
He maintained that Enang “acted on his own accord.”
“Please, I believe that Ita Enang is in a better position to explain to Nigerians what happened. I will advice you contact him.
“But for the President, count him out. Let Ita Enang speak for himself,” Adesina said angrily while ending the call abruptly.
On Thursday January 14, 2016 the missing budget saga took a new shape, when the Senate president via his twitter handle said the senate received two versions of the budget and that the budget was never missing.
The Senate also accused Enang of changing the contents of the 2016 appropriation bill before making the document available to the lawmakers.
Buhari had presented the 2016 budget proposal last December before a joint session of the National Assembly.
Senators however, on Tuesday said that the documents presented by the President were missing and mandated the Chairman Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, from Imo West Senatorial District to conduct an investigation into the matter.
At its plenary on Thursday, the Senate said Enang, himself a former senator, changed the contents of the original document as presented by Buhari.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, disclosed this at the end of the executive session that lasted over two hours.
“What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President,” Saraki stated.
However, Enang reacting to the allegation levied against him stated that he is not ready to join issues with the senators.
Meanwhile, the Red Chambers had reassured Nigerians that the original copy of the budget was not missing as the senate is set to begin its deliberation on January 19th, 2016
