The Senate has accused ‎the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Senate, Ita Enang, of changing the contents of the 2016 appropriation bill before making the document available to the lawmakers.

Mr. Buhari presented the 2016 budget proposal last December before a joint session of the National Assembly.

Senators however told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that the documents presented by the president were missing. The senate later asked a committee to investigate the matter.

At its plenary on Thursday, the Senate said Mr. Enang, himself a former senator, changed the contents of the original document as presented by Mr. Buhari.

A source hinted that the budget which was uploaded on the Budget office website is different from what was submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari back on Tuesday, December 22, 2015.

He further stated that in the budget submitted last year, the forcasted cost of BMW cars for legislators was N3.63bn, but in the current version, it has now been reduced down to N340m.

He noted that the new budget now has an added a N3.9bn for annual routine maintenance of villa facilities which was not in the original budget.

The updated budget also  includes the movement of N100m from the Office of the Presidency budget and the creation of a special line to the Offices of the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief of Security to President and to State House and and Lagos Liaison Office.

The senate president, Bukola Saraki, disclosed this at the end of the executive session that lasted over two hours.

“What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved not to address any version until we receive the version presented by Mr. President,” Mr. Saraki stated.

The chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Aliyu Sabi, further emphasised the Senate allegation when he briefed journalists after plenary.

Source: Premium Times; Naij.com