The leadership of the Senate has placed a ‘shut up’ order on its members in apparent move to douse the outrage sparked by the exclusion of the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar Rail Line Project from the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget.
A reliable source said that the senators were warned during a close door meeting to desist from commenting on the controversial claims that the project was yanked off from the 2016 budget by the joint Committee on Appropriation.
Some Senators who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were not disposed to speak on the issue, arguing that the Red Chamber was yet to gain a strong footing and was therefore not willing to engage the executive arm in any war of words.
The gag order is coming against the backdrop of reported seething anger in the camps of the South East, South South lawmakers in the National Assembly angry over the decision to expunge the project.
It was gathered that lawmakers from the two zones are angry that the project was not included in the version passed to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. They expressed displeasure at a meeting with some officials of the Budget and National Planning Ministry.
“Some chairmen of committees in the House told some ministers privately that they were not allowed to see the final version of the budget that was transmitted to President Buhari for assent.
“During the recess, they kept us here in Abuja and impressed it on us to work round the clock for the budget to be ready. We were shocked when the budget was transmitted without us seeing the details, particularly this critical project that will benefit our people,” one of the committee chairmen allegedly told a minister whose duties oversees the national budget.
Another source in one of the ministries said meetings between the National Assembly and the Executive were ongoing, “even though some of them will come to the meeting to say one thing and go outside to tell the public something else.”
Southern Senators Back Buhari’s position On Budget
However, Senators from the Southern part of Nigeria have asked President Muhammadu Buhari, to withold his assent on the 2016 budget if the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly refused to include the Calabar – Lagos rail project in the 2016 appropriation bill.
Huhu gathered that the presidency had returned the document to the National Assembly, asking the federal parliament to include the project in the 2016 budget already passed but the lawmakers were demanding a supplementary appropriation.
Further checks at the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), revealed on Wednesday that the document which was returned on Monday evening, had been withdrawn again by the Budget office.
A member of staff of the office told our correspondent on conditions of anonymity that the budget was withdrawn on the orders of the Minister of Budget and National Planning. Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma, on Tuesday.
However, federal parliamentarians from the South West, and South South geopolitical zones met at their caucus levels on Tuesday night and resolved to resist any attempt to deny their people, the viable project.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed on Wednesday that while the South South, South East senators met at undisclosed locations outside the National Assembly complex, the South West senators met at the residence of Senator Gbenga Ashafa.
Senators who attended the caucus meetings confided in our correspondent that the call for the supplementary budget was an attempt to deny the south an opportunity to enjoy a viable rail project.
Confirming the position of the southern senators in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, said the APC caucus in the south west are solidly behind the position of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, over the issue.
He said the signing of the budget now without the inclusion of the N60bn Calabar-Lagos rail project would not be in the interest of the people of the South West.
