2013 budget: PDP can’t intimidate us to support illegality – NASS

The National Assembly will not be coerced by the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to support wrong decisions taken by the executive so as not to inadvertently add to the suffering of the Nigerian people, a principal officer of the legislature, has declared.
The officer was reacting to the threat by the party last week against the leadership and members of the party in the National Assembly over their opposition to certain issues in the 2012 and 2013 budgets. He castigated the party for trying to intimidate them to support unpopular decisions and policies that might work against the people.
The House of Representatives is insisting on an oil benchmark of $80 per barrel while the Presidency says it should be left at $75. The Senate last week pegged it at $78 per barrel.
Although a joint committee of the two chambers is expected to reach a compromise on the benchmark, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Olisa Metuh, last week, warned that the party would no longer tolerate any act of indiscipline from its elected officials.

But the principal officer, who was elected on the platform of the PDP, warned the party to desist from issuing empty threats and careless statements capable of driving its members to the opposition.
The lawmaker, who pleaded anonymity, wondered why the party would want them to continue to keep quiet over issues that had far-reaching implications on the lives of Nigerians.
He questioned why the party would want them to support a low oil benchmark of $75 per barrel when a clear and well established trend has been established that the price of oil has never gone below $100 per barrel in recent years.
The legislator said it was illegal for the executive to continue to base the budget on low oil benchmark, cart home with higher revenue and put same under Excess Crude Account, which it spends at will on causes that have little or no impact on Nigerians.
He said: “I think no amount of threat by the PDP can solve any problem in Nigeria and I make bold to say that if the party does not want us, they should say so for us to leave its platform.
“It is my strong belief that if PDP suspends any elected member, we can still use our mandates to work for Nigerians. We want democracy to work in this country and to give meaning to the ordinary man on the street.
“We cannot be intimidated by the party because they did not do anything to win election for us. It is the people who voted for us and gave us the mandate to speak and defend them.”
He said he was suspicious that the threat by the party was meant to scare members of the National Assembly from expressing their views on the poor implementation of the 2012 budget and the many controversial policies highlighted in the 2013 appropriation.

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