Why we booed Buhari during 2019 budget presentation – PDP lawmakers

Rancorous lawmakers during Buhari's Budget presentation

Member of the House of Representatives caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have said that poor implementation of the 2018 budget is the reason they protest against President Muhammadu Buhari during his budget presentation.

Recall that on Wednesday, Mr Buhari had been booed by some lawmakers during the 2019 budget presentation at the joint session of the National Assembly.

The president was soon shouted down with screams of “nooooo”, “nooooo”, “lieessss” when he started talking about the strides of his administration.

However, addressing newsmen shortly after the presentation, leader of the group, Chukwuma Onyema, expressed displeasure at the way and manner the executive resorted to selective implementation of their own proposal, as against what was approved by the National Assembly.

“We condemned in entirety everything that has been presented, because you have not implemented even up to ten per cent of the previous budget, and now you are bringing another one,” Mr Onyema stated.

He, however, attributed the industrial action being embarked upon by the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN, to non-implementation of the previous budget.

He noted that they expected an effective budget performance and implementation before the presentation of another, and berated the All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmakers for applauding the president during the presentation. According to Onyema, the APC lawmakers are “trying to curry favour”.

The caucus said the President would not have come for this year’s presentation if he was to face questions on the implementation of the 2018 budget.