‘Don’t blame Buhari for errors in the document,’ Gbajabiamila says

The errors in the 2016 budget, as attested by members of the National Assembly, has made law makers push its passage to the end of March, 2016.

He said “First of all all, I’m gonna absolve the President, but am not gonna to absolve the people that did it. Why I must absolve the President I will tell you. The job was done by civil servants, it has always been done by civil servants. The president does not sit in a ministry, he doesn’t know what’s going on in a ministry or what they need or do not need.”

Adding that “The argument can be that the buck stops at his desk. I agree with that. He must take responsibility. But, the point is that, he delegated. Under the Constitution he has the right to delegate his work to ministers. And he delegated the issue of budget and planning to the Minister of Budget and Planning.”

“And once you delegate, the assumption is that you’re doing the work of the President, and that’s what delegation means, and its in the Constitution. And that’s what he’s done.

Read: President Buhari orders probe of 2016 budget fraud

“Where I think the ball was dropped, I think it was with the minister of budget and planning. Because after the civil servants, whether Intentionally or not intentionally, did what they did, it was for the Minister of Budget and Planning to vet and scrutinize those things before coming to the House, or the National Assembly. It’s not for the President to do,” Gbajabiamila said.

Femi Gbajabiamila is the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, and he represents the Surulere 1 constituency of Lagos State.