Opposition members of the House of Representatives have challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the 2013 budget or face an override of his veto by the legislature.
The National Assembly passed the 2013 Appropriation Act on December 20, 2012, and subsequently transmitted it to the president for approval. There have been speculations that the president has withdrawn his assent and returned the budget to the House.
In a press conference yesterday, the minority lawmakers also threw their weight behind the merger of their parties to create the All Progressives Congress (APC). Members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) , however, disowned the declaration.
Leader of the opposition caucus in the Green Chamber, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, called the president to immediately approve the 2013 budget, saying the House was ready to cooperate with him to iron out any contentious issues that might be inherent in the document.
“Mr President should quickly sign the 2013 budget and we will work with him on this if there are genuine grey areas. We are already in February and a situation where the legislature will have to override his presidential veto as constitutionally provided is not a good way to start the year or foster a good legislative/executive relationship. If two heads are better than one, 360 heads are better than one,” he said.
Flanked by deputy minority leader Hon Abdulrahman Kawu, minority whip Hon Ahmed Datti, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa and other members, the opposition caucus leader described the impending merger as “a true rainbow coalition of colours that will brighten the darkness we have been plunged into as a nation over the past decade.”
Meanwhile, a former gubernatorial candidate of APGA in Anambra State and serving member of the House of Representatives, Hon Uche Ekwunife, distanced her party from the merger, saying that members of her party were neither consulted nor were they part of the merger of the opposition parties.
Reacting to the presence of the Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, a member of APGA, at the merger talks, Ekwunife said he might have joined the talks on personal grounds and in exercise of his freedom to associate with others.
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