Uproar as APC Reps stall 2014 budget debate

 

Members of the All Progressives Congress  in  the House of Representatives on Tuesday stalled  debate on the 2014 Appropriation Bill.

 The development appeared to be the first phase of the lawmakers’ compliance with the directive of  the national leadership of their party to “block” all Executive  bills, particularly  the budget.

- How APC plotted and executed its plan
 

 Investigations showed that the APC caucus tricked their PDP counterparts by adopting a different “tactic” from the normal approach of moving a motion to condemn the budget and demand that it should be stopped.

 A source disclosed that the caucus realised that such a motion might have failed if put to vote.

 “Therefore, what the caucus decided to do was to look out for legal loopholes to hold on to.

 “The issue of complying with the FRA easily came to mind”, the source stated.

 Findings also revealed that the caucus kept the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, out of the matter, since “he will usually be opposed by the PDP members.”

It was gathered  that because of this,  Jime became the choice to raise the point of law to stop the debate.

 Jime defected from the  PDP to the APC  barely two weeks ago. While all attention was on Gbajabiamila, Jime stood up to execute the caucus’s plan.

 The PUNCH learnt that the caucus concluded on how to execute the plot at a meeting the members held a few minutes to the start of Tuesday’s sitting.

The  bill however had a smooth sail  in the Senate where it passed   through its  second reading.

Last week, the members, including those in the  APC,   had  condemned the  bill  and called  for its review.