TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has dared the national assembly to confront him publicly on capital projects.

Buhari said this on Tuesday when he hosted the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) led by Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service.

In his speech, the president wondered what members of the national assembly have been doing, even when some of them have spent over a decade as lawmakers.

“This year and last year’s budget I took to the national assembly was the highest in capital projects – more than 1.3 trillion naira. Let anybody come and confront me publicly in the national assembly,” he said.

“What have they been doing? Some of them have been there for 10 years. What have they been doing?”

The national assembly had disagreed with Buhari over the purchase of $496 million Tucano aircraft from the US without its approval.

In a move to pacify the lawmakers, Buhari wrote to the senate and house of reps on April 13, confirming giving anticipatory approval for the payment of the aircraft.

He said the $496 million used was from the $1 billion to be withdrawn from the excess crude account as agreed by governors.