National Budget Less Important Than Citizens’ Lives – APC The All Progressives Congress (APC) has defended its decision to coerce the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, to intervene in the political crisis rocking the oil rich Rivers State by ensuring that its members in the National Assembly block the 2014 budget from being passed into law. In an interview on Channels Television’s flagship programme, Sunrise Daily, the spokesman and interim Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, described what had been coined ‘Block Budget Directive’ as a norm in democratic practice which was the party’s last option in getting the Federal Government to act. According to him, the directive was a last resort for the party as they “ran out of options”. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had since condemned the move by the opposition describing it as a move against the 160 million strong nation. Speaking on Sunrise Daily, Mr Mohammed argued that the situation in Rivers is crucial to the stability of the country while the lives of the citizens of Rivers State are more important as they form the body of the nation for which the budget is prepared. “Which one is more important, the budget or the stability of this country? The budget, or the lives of the people in Rivers State?” he asked. The situation in Rivers State started in February 2013, he said, adding that the Rivers State governor had written to the Presidency and to the National Assembly as well as the National Human Rights Commission, after which both chambers of the National Assembly passed resolutions that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police Mbu be redeployed. “Despite all this, the presidency was not ready to stop the reign of impunity in Rivers State. We were very concerned,” he said. “We went further to comment on the attack on the Save Rivers Movement which led to Senator Magnus Abe being shot at.” According to him, “If we allow the situation in Rivers State to descend to a state of anarchy, and it spreads to other states of the federation, then the stability of this country will be threatened and our democracy will be threatened. “I believe that if what we did is just to bring peace and order into Rivers state, those who are accusing us of being anti-people, anti-democratic are only being mischievous.” He noted that “people are not looking at this in a very objective manner. All we said is that if the President does not intervene to restore order in Rivers State, we will block all its bills which means, if today, the President restores order or intervenes in Rivers State, there would be no need for it.” He argued that the money to be spent in the budget was generated from crude oil and “oil is from the Niger delta area” so “if the situation in Rivers State should escalate to a state of anarchy and spread to other states, would there even be any revenue? He also questioned why the President had not showed any “willingness to restore law and order to a part of the country he governs” #ChannelsTV
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 16:34:47 +0000
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