The revelations came after over two hour closed session where the senators were said to have “thoroughly discussed and taken far reaching decisions on the budget”.
Emerging from the closed session, Senate President Bukola Saraki recalled that in the wake of rumors that the 2016 budget was missing at the National Assembly, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions was mandated to investigate and report back so the Red Chamber could take an informed position.
He said that the Senate discovered from the findings of its Ethics committee that the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, printed and submitted to the Senate, a different version of the 2016 budget.
According to Saraki, the aide printed and submitted a version of the 2016 Appropriation Bill different to that presented by President Buhari before a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.
He said, “We have received the report of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on investigations surrounding 2016 Appropriation Bill.
“Our finding is that Senator Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matter (SSA) printed copies of the 2016 Appropriation Bill and brought to the Senate.
“We have discovered that what he brought is different from the version presented by Mr. President.
“We have resolved to consider only the version presented by Mr. President as soon as we receive soft copy of the original document from the Executive”.
The Senate president, however, did not give details of the discrepancies noticed in the copy of the 2016 budget printed by Enang and the original copy presented by President Buhari.
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