Former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, yesterday upbraided the leadership of the Senate for alleged misplacement of the 2016 budget proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He blamed the mishandling of the document on what he called the undisciplined process that produced the current leadership of the Senate.
Akande, who spoke with reporters at his Ila-Orangun country home during his 77th birthday, wondered how an important document as the budget could be so mishandled.
But the leadership of the Senate responded swiftly last night.
It said the former governor of Osun State was completely off the course on the issue as it did not say at any time that the document was missing.
It said what it told Nigerians was that two versions of the budget surfaced.
It accused Akande of eagerness to “latch on to any opportunity to bring to disrepute the leadership of the Senate because he failed to get his choice candidates elected.”
Akande had told reporters: “Our party, the All Progressives Congress, never planned to have the structure we have at the National Assembly.”
He said neither President Buhari nor the APC could be blamed for the ‘misplaced’ budget.
On revelations about arms deals under the Jonathan Administration, Chief Akande said: “It surprises us to meet huge corruption. We never knew it was that bad.
“The rot was great. The level of corruption was great. Very huge. It is like facing a monster.”
He enjoined Nigerians to support the fight against corruption by President Buhari.
According to him: “The government can’t do it alone. Nigerians must support Buhari to succeed.?
“We should realise that government and the party are not the same. Government is a product of the government.
“Our party is concerned about three things. And this administration promised three things: to confront corruption, terrorism and reduce unemployment. And these are things we have faced since we came into power.”
On the face off between the Osun State government and its the labour, Chief Akande warned that the workers should realise that the state is not economically viable.
He said what Governor Rauf Aregbesola planned was an eldorado for the state but met a “shocking and collapsed” economy.
He said: “When the economy goes back everyone will be adversely affected. Osun is not viable since it cannot generate good revenue.
“A state that depends only on the federal allocation majorly is not viable. Crude oil, the major revenue earner is no more there. Our buyers used to pay for oil three months in advance but today no one asks us for the oil.
“So, I want to warn the doctors, teachers and the labour, shouting ‘we no go agree’ to thread softly.
“When they continue to tap the floor violently and the ground cave in under their feet there won’t be a state for them to work.”
On the fate of the last National Conference, Akande said its recommendations were not tenable because “the APC, the largest party was left out. I don’t believe in the way the conference was set up so I don’t care about its recommendations.”?
Meanwhile, the Senate leadership in its response to Akande’s view, said it was “regrettable that a man of Akande’s status would be responding to mere speculation without cross-checking his facts or worse still eager to latch on to any opportunity to bring to disrepute the leadership of the Senate because he failed to get his choice candidates elected.”
Spokesman for the Green Chamber, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, urged Akande to “check his records properly so that he could see that at no time did the Senate say the 2016 budget was missing.”
He said: “We have said it several times that the budget was not missing. That two versions of the details of the budget exist and this is no longer in doubt as the Presidency has equally admitted this.
“We expect a man of Akande’s calibre to cross-check his facts and take us up on our words. That he decided to ignore the facts and make comments on speculations is regrettable.
“He is a man who had served in government. He is a leader of the party with the majority in the Senate and he has several channels of cross-checking facts as against speculations.”
Abdullahi added: “Contrary to the description of what happened as indiscipline on the part of the leadership, the position of the present Senate leadership is a demonstration of the regime of openness, transparency and accountability that now reigns in the upper legislative chamber. In the past such a development would have been swept under the carpet.
“The statement by Akande was another expression of the frustration that the former Governor of Osun State suffers for not being able to impose his lackeys on the Senate as leaders.
“Chief Akande is still sulking after his group’s failed attempt to impose certain individuals as the leaders of the Senate last year. “So, he was in a hurry to condemn the leadership. We want him to know that the leadership of the Senate can only emerge through the provisions of the constitution and the standing rules of the institution.
“As a democrat, Akande should know that once the majority has elected the leadership, all parties to the contest ought to accept the decision.”
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