Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) o Wednesday held a strategic meeting with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the House of Representatives ahead of the presentation of 2019 budget proposal.
He however expressed displeasure over recent call by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) that opposition members in the National Assembly should shun the presentation of the 2019 Appropriation Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mustapha, who also assured that the All progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives has no reason to be worried about threats from opposition parties in the National Assembly, said the ruling party has the numerical strength to see through all its legislative demands.
He however denied insinuations that his meeting with the APC caucus was out of uncertainty over the budget presentation by the President.
He said the presentation of the Appropriation Bill is a constitutional responsibility of the President that should not be politicized.
“It will be totally out of place to boycott the budget presentation. This is a national responsibility, the President has to present the budget as demanded by the Constitution and he is going to do exactly that,” he said.
Mustapha, who spoke with journalists immediately after the meeting, denied insinuations that it was meant to rally the support of the caucus for the President during the budget presentation.
He said the meeting was a routine dialogue with the caucus, “I’ve come here to attend the caucus meeting our members
“It has nothing to do with the strike action and it is not about the budget presentation, it was about the party matter, we discussed matters that are very germane to the party. I have been attending caucus meetings with them because this is a larger House.
“That is why I came out. We have to strategise, we are preparing for the election, we have to plan what they would do in the course of the recess in terms of deepening democracy and preparing our party for the election.
“We have to plan what they would do during the recess, you know very soon they are going on recess, so this is in continuation of dialogue with our members,” the SGF said.
In his remarks, Femi Gbajabiamila, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, said the meeting was routine and a ‘family affair.’
