Some Nigerian lawmakers of both chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives have expressed frustration over the Wednesday visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the National Assembly to commemorate 25 years of unbroken democracy and as well partake in the official rendition of the old national anthem which was adopted after it was signed to law by Mr President, as a waste of state resources.
Those who spoke to newsmen on the event , lamented the wastage as well as the hullabaloo and confusion about the visit.
Some of the lawmakers, in the guise of anonymity, especially the Senators who were visibly angry with the visit, said it was a waste of tax payers’ money.
National assembly sources informed newshounds that the event did not get the President’s nod except the commissioning of the Library project which was among projects lined up nationwide to be inaugurated to comemorate the President’s one year in office(May 29 2023- May 29 2024).
It was learnt that the President had to be lobbied and begged to attend the National assembly purported joint session which the presidency had earlier detached itself because Aso Villa was not informed either was it part of the arrangement, and significantly, the presidency had looked up to June 12 as the new democracy day.
Sources further told newsmen that the leadership of the national assembly led by it chairman, the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, led a delegation to the Villa to prevail on Tinubu to address them.and give pep to the event.
Though the Presidency had earlier turned down the invitation insisting that June 12, was an official day for democracy and wondered why he should be invited on a Wednesday May, 29.
According to some of the lawmakers who were lamenting after the session, “it was not proper for the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the speaker Tajudeen Abbas, among other principal officers to go to the Villa to compel the President to address them Wednesday.
It was learnt that part of the reason why the event delayed beyond the scheduled 10 am, to 12 pm when he arrived butrressed the plea time expended by principles officers of the national assembly to get Mr President attend.
But for the lawmakers who were opposed to the visit, they saw it as waste of resources and tax payers’ money.
“I am yet to come to terms with what just played out, (Wednesday) after spending this much, yet the president was not willing to come, and they have to go and beg him to come”
“What exactly did he come to do, if not that he was begged to come. Can anyone point out what he said, what was his address to the lawmakers outside saying that we should collaborate with him, have we not been collaborating with him before, so what?” one of the angry lawmakers queried.
