– Marafa blames 2016 budget controversies Bukola Saraki
– Says budget controversies was a protest against Saraki’s trial at CCT
Spokesperson for the Senate Unity Forum (SUF), Senator Kabir Marafa has accused Senate president, Bukola Saraki of plotting to blackmail President Muhammadu Buhari by sponsoring controversies around the 2016 budget.
Marafa alleges that the budget controversies was sponsored by Saraki and his loyalists in the to protest the Senate’s president’s ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal
According to The Punch, Marafa told journalists in Abuja on Sunday, February 21, that the budget controversies surrounding the 2016 budget was created by Saraki and his loyalists in the Senate to protest Saraki’s ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
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Marafa, who is also the chairman, Senate committee on national identity and national population said the Senate president and his loyalist have at different times claimed that the budget was missing, doctored, or padded, hence can no longer be passed as earlier planned.
He said: “Honestly speaking if am to comment on the controversy that has been trailing the 2016 budget in the Senate, I will say it is all the work of the fifth columnists there.
“We woke up one day and the senate president just came and said there is no budget, that the budget is stolen embarrassing everybody, but the following day the Speaker said his own was not stolen.
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“Next, they said the budget is doctored, next they said the budget is padded, next they said there are discrepancies all over the place we knew how they came into the leadership of the National Assembly or the Senate.
Marafa queried why the controversies surrounding the budget came up after the Supreme Court said ruled that Saraki should face trial at the CCT.
He drew a strong link between all the noise about the budget and the corruption trial Saraki was facing at the CCT.
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, insisted on Sunday, February 20, that the 2016 budget was not padded as being speculated in some quarters.
He said that the total figure voted for all ministries had not exceeded N6.08 trillion which was the official sum proposed by the government.
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