The Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), has described as illegal, the presentation of the N545 billion 2025 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly by Governor Dauda Lawal.
The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris, said the state’s annual budget proposal presentation event is usually done openly for the entire world to see, know, and possibly comment on, or contribute to the way and manner public taxpayers’ money will be utilised by the government, in the incoming year.
It adds that while planning to spend over N545 billion Naira, Governor Dauda and his stooges decided to hide in the hollowed chamber of the state assembly, to cook up in secrecy, how they intended to perfectly perpetrate their hidden agenda.
The APC claimed the state government, in collaboration with some bad security personnel, barred everyone, especially the media, from covering the presentation, and by implication, denied the public, knowledge or access to the budget.
It is therefore, calling on the governor, state government, and the House of Assembly, to immediately reverse the presentation of the proposed 2025 budget, and apologise to the people, or the party will seek legal redress in court.
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The APC alleges that the legislature, had ahead of the presentation, decided to suspend nine out of the 24 Member of the House of Assembly, who were suspected of possibly challenging the document, during, and after the presentation, so that the process would go unchallenged.
The development, plus the refusal of the Member representing Kaura Namoda to participate, in what the party called, an unholy presentation, left the assembly, unfortunately for Governor Dauda’s proponents, with less than two-thirds of members, who cannot constitutionally pass any bill, and therefore, nullifying and voiding the action.
The party is appealing to the nation’s anti-corruption agencies, especially the EFCC and ICPC, to investigate the total abuse of financial regulations by the governor’s cabal, to perpetuate illegality in the state.
It decried that all over the country, no state assembly has suspended about half of its members.
The APC claimed that the Zamfara State House of Assembly has suspended 8 members since February 2024.
According to the party, the affected members have remained under illegal suspension for 10 months, while their salaries and allowances are being shared among the principal officers of the House of Assembly, under the watchful eyes of the Speaker, Bilyaminu Moriki, for which it will also ensure that all that is legally due, is retrieved according to the law.
The opposition APC is claiming that under the House Standing Rules, a member can only suspend a member for not more than two weeks, which is equivalent to eight legislative days, thus making this one a gross violation.
Moreover, the affected members have not been receiving their salaries and allowances, nor were they given a fair hearing to appear before the House Committee on Ethics and Privilege, over the matter for which they were suspended, and they have been without recourse to the fact that their respective constituencies are not represented at crucial decisions, like the annual budget for ten months now.
It says that, “the governor must know that governance is done according to constitutional provisions, not personal interests, and abuse of the constitutional rights of others, all of which will boomerang on him, even before the end of his tenure,” it added.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
