Senators vow to oppose Buhari's request for extra $633m to fund next year's elections

SENATORS have voiced their opposition to President Muhammadu Buhari's request for N228,854,008,215 ($633m) to fund the 2019 general elections saying that it is in contravention of the country's Electoral Act.

 

In a letter read on the floor of the national assembly by senate president Senator Bukola Saraki, President Buhari said nothing less than N242bn would be required for the conduct of 2019 general and presidential elections. He explained that the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) and security agencies have submitted their requests in preparation for polls, and the money was required to meet their demands.

 

According to the president, a proposed sum of N164bn should be provided for through virement or supplementary to the 2018 budget to fund the elections. However, in a swift response, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, has vowed not to support President Buhari’s request.

 

Senator Ibrahim said: “I will not support it as I don’t believe that and that is not planning. Since we held the last poll, the next election time had been fixed.

 

“Since we did the last election, we already knew when we must do the next election as the Electoral Act stipulates. We already knew that a new government would be inaugurated on May 29, 2019.”

 

Nigeria's main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for its part has accused President Buhari of seeking what it described as surreptitious ploys to frustrate the conduct of the 2019 general elections. According to the PDP, the president was frustrating the 2019 elections because he had allegedly been told that he would lose his re-election bid.

 

Kola Ologbondiyan the PDP's national publicity secretary, asked Nigerians and the international community to note that this request is a deliberate plot to inject disagreements in the polity, cause confusion in the electoral system and set the stage for a political crisis capable of frustrating the conduct of the elections. He added that President Buhari ought to know that the request was against the constitution.

 

Mr Ologbondiyan said: “Mr President is aware that his request is in no way in consonant with constitutional provisions and extant rules guiding legislative virement of funds already meant for constituency development projects, yet he sent same to the National Assembly. If Mr President meant well for the nation and had no ulterior motives, he should have sent a fresh supplementary budget to the National Assembly for whatever amount he seeks for Inec, instead of seeking for a controversial virement.”

 

He, therefore, asked the president follow the rules and immediately submit a fresh supplementary budget or seek other legitimate ways and means, which he said must be devoid of bottlenecks, to finance the election. Senator Mathew Urhoghide, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, added that although the president had the constitutional right to request for virement, the National Assembly must consider from where the virement would be done before giving its approval.

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