Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, yesterday tasked Nigerians not to expect much from the 2019 Appropriation Bill, describing the budget proposal as hopeless.
Saraki, who spoke in his capacity as the Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, PPCO, also declared that Nigerians were safer in 2015 than they are today.
He stated this at an interactive session between the PDP presidential candidate, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Abuja.
PDP Vice Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, at the event lamented that 60 percent of the 2019 budget is dedicated to debt servicing of the APC government which he noted has surpassed what was accrued in the 16 years of the PDP government.
Saraki in his opening remark, argued that the budget proposal presented by Buhari last Wednesday had no future because the statistics does not indicate the financial model by which it will be funded. He said, “Yesterday (Wednesday), we all heard the 2019 budget.
That is a budget that has no hope for anybody because if you look at the statistics and the figures there’s poverty, if you look at the figures based on revenues that are coming in, there is nothing left. So where’s the future?
“There must be an alternative and that is what we hope that by this evening speaking to our candidate and vice presidential candidate, not based on sentiments. We are not voting on sentiments, we are voting on what is the need for you.
“How is your life going to be better? Which party offers you a better future because we see you as those who are patriotic and committed . It’s not about what you’ll get today. It’s about the great country a lot of you expect to see.
The Senate President who noted that the President will fail to attend the January 19, 2019 Presidential debate stressed that any President that wants to lead the country and the African continent should be able to sell his blueprint to the people.
He said, “This is an interactive session. I’m not sure whether the other political parties will give you an opportunity like this to ask them any question. I’m told that one has debated and you already know the answer to that debate. On the second one, I’m very sure he’s not going to debate.
So how do you assess somebody who is not ready to tell you what he’s going to do. “Those days are gone, my good people.
A country that leads the continent that is not ready to show example is not what we want for this continent.
The whole world is going in a direction, if you’re seeking a position, you must come and tell people what you want to do. You must sit down and they will ask you questions and that is why we’re here. “Today is your day, we will sit down and take questions.
I hope at the end of the exercise you will stand up and say yes this is the team that will secure Nigeria, this is the team that will unite Nigeria , this is the team that will fight the poverty in town and bring a bright future.”
Atiku’s running mate, Obi, who also faulted the 2019 budget said “When you look at the revenue, we will spend 60 percent to service debt. So what is left? And they will borrow more. “What they borrowed in 2016 and 2017 is the same PDP borrowed in 16 years.
When you ask them, they say they use it for capital project.”
He lamented the level of poverty in the country and lambasted the President for urging Nigerians to tighten their belts, saying “Nigerian people have no belt again to tighten up”, stressing “we now wake up everyday with a sense of helplessness.”
While he noted that APC administration didn’t heed warnings over the alarming rate of job losses and unemployment in 2017, he said the recent rise in the unemployment rate from 18.8 percent to 23 percent is only going to get worse because “nobody is doing anything.”
He promised that immediately they get elected into office, their administration will show numbers of persons who are unemployed and correspondingly provide daily statistics on the number of persons that will get jobs.
Meanwhile, Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the assassination of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh on Tuesday, December 18 along Abuja-Keffi Highway.
The upper legislative chamber also charged the security agencies to ensure the rescue of personal staff of the late Air Chief held hostage by the assailants.
The resolutions followed a motion moved to that effect by Senator Binta Masi Garba and co sponsored by the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah.
Senator Garba in the motion “the late Chief of Defence Staff died from gunshot wounds sustained when his vehicle was attacked while returning from his farm alongside his driver while one of his personal staff is still held hostage by the assailants.
Senator Binta informe d. the Senate that the late Badeh retired in July 2015 in line with the military tradition at a pulling-out parade held at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja where he gave his valedictory speech before proceeding to his home state of Adamawa.
Senator Garba stated that the deceased was born in Vimtim town in Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa State into a family of peasant farmers where he attended Vimtim Primary School and Villanova Secondary School before proceeding to the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 21 Regular Course on 3rd January, 1977 and was commissioned a Pilot Officer on 3rd July, 1979.
In his contribution, Senator Shehu Sani, who lamented that the killing was an addition to the cases of unresolved assassination, warned that the state must take the issue very seriously.
He said: “Badeh served his country from the beginning to the end, meritoriously. It is sad that he is a victim of assassination. He was killed few kilometers from the state capital. The state has failed Badeh. We should take the issue of security serious. He is a victim of an assassination
“This should bring to light a national discourse. If this can happen to Alex Badeh, it can happen to anybody. It is an addition to the cases of unresolved assassination. The state must take this issue very seriously. We owed him a duty to ensure that such a thing never happen again. The security agencies should deploy necessary security technologies to fish out the killers.”
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, in his contributions, lamented that the killer, like the case of Bola Ige and others might never be found.
He said: “The killers might never be found because this is not the first time we would have such incidence. The time has come for us to ensure that assassins are found.
“Abuja, the FCT is becoming unsafe for the residents. We must ensure that all the CCTV are working in memory of Badeh and ensure that the killers are found.”
In his remarks , the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki noted the need to do more in the area of security. “ . Necessary measures must be taken to ensure that lives and properties are protected.” he said
Also, the House of the Representatives yesterday urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yussuf Bitchi, to fish the those responsible for the killing of the late Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, a one time Chief of Defence Staff.
This followed the adoption of a motion moved under matter of public urgent importance titled “need to investigate the killing of Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh” by Hon. Abdulrahman Shuaibu Abubakar at the plenary yesterday.
While moving the motion, Hon Abubakar noted that “Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, was killed by unknown gunmen on December 18, 2018, in his car while returning from his farm along Abuja-Keffi road.
He pointed out that the driver of the former Chief of Defence Staff sustained serious injuries of gunshot and now receiving medical treatment while his Farm Manager, Engr Joe was taken away by the fleeing gunmen.
In his contribution, Hon. Toby Okechukwu who blamed the nation’s Security agencies for the recent killing in the country declared that the way people were now being killed in the country showed that the country was no longer working and that the security agencies were not alive to their responsibilities.
According to him, “our security outfit is not working, they are not doing what they are supposed to do. If a general can be killed like that, you can now imagine what ordinary Nigerians are going through everyday.
“It is very sad. I understand that the first thing that will come is about corruption allegations against him, unfortunate he is not here to answer all of that, it is a pity that after risking his life to service Nigeria, he now died like a commoner and this shows that Nigeria democracy is gone”.
Also Hon. Chike Adamu who expressed fear over the rate of killings in the country stressed the need for urgent action to stop the madness , saying, “ this is an inccident that happened close to the seat of power where you have the president, his Vice, Senate President including you Mr Speaker.”
While adopting the motion, the House condemned the killing and directed the Police, DSS and other security forces to fish out the killers And made them to face the full weight of the law.

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja