BEVERLY HILLS, July 03, (THEWILL) – Hundreds of angry youths, on Tuesday, stormed the National Assembly protesting allegation of budget padding by the lawmakers and demanding resignation of Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Police quickly locked the gates to prevent the crowd from gaining entrance but the protesters were able to unlock the gates and entered the premises.
The protest turned rowdy when the protesters became impatient following concerns that the leadership of the National Assembly did not deem it fit to address them.
Some of the protesters were seen trying to climb the main gate, while others were seen shaking the gate vigorously to force their way into the premises.
They were however stopped when Police officers manning the gate, released teargas into the air.
The protesters demanded for the resignation of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, over the alterations to 2018 budget.
They said that the constituency projects injected in national budget by the lawmakers was for self-enrichment.
The protesters held placards with inscriptions: ‘Our lawmakers are inserting illegal projects in the budget’, ‘They now compel the use of their corrupt contractors’, ‘The national assembly is not for armed robbers.’
Reacting, Saraki, on the floor of the senate said he knows the Ministers and Governors who sponsored the protest against the National Assembly as he reiterated that funds for constituency projects are not given to the lawmakers and it was the executive who implements them.
“For Nigerians being used – people are taking advantage of the poverty in the country and what is saddening about it is that those who are doing this are those who are part of government. This does not help the unity of the arms of government,” he said.
“Mr President needs to investigate this and call to order – there is no secret in this. If you go out there, those boys will tell you where they are collecting the money from; the minister giving them the money, the governor that is giving them the money and these are governors, ministers in the same ruling party.
“So, I rarely don’t understand how they will promote unity with these kind of things. There is need for these kind of activities to stop. If keep weakening this institution, it will hurt us down the line when we need them. Those showing, rascality irresponsibility should be called to order because they are taking advantage of these young ones.
“If there is something wrong with the implementation, it is the executive. We don’t award the contract, we don’t release the money. Those behind the protest should desist; we know who you are, it is not in the interest of the unity of this country.”
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