Yar’Adua calls off budget session over N’ Assembly rift – The Guardian
November 20, 2009 by Bunmi Awolusi
The planned budget presentation by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives did not hold yesterday after all. Two separate Army Bands had, in fact, set up their separate bands at the two chambers of the two houses. But when information filtered in that the presentation was no longer holding, the soldiers dismantled their bands with a characteristic dispatch and vanished.
In the past, only one Army Band was sent to play ceremonial music in the Chamber of the House of Representatives, the venue of past budget presentations.
Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba Aji, confirmed to journalists that the yearly event had been called off indefinitely.
What actually led to the sudden cancellation remained a mystery, despite Aji’s explanation, because, according to a National Assembly source, “the Presidency had been aware of the disagreement between both Houses since Wednesday afternoon.”
