Muslim Rights Concern labels legislators political imbeciles for booing Buhari during budget presentation

ISLAMIC body the Muslim Rights Concern (Muric) has lashed out at lawmakers who recently jeered President Muhammadu Buhari at the National Assembly when he was presenting the 2019 budget calling them political imbeciles.

In Wednesday, President Buhari presented the 2019 budget to a joint session of the senate and the House of Representatives at the National Assembly in Abuja. During the rowdy presentation, legislators from President Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) cheered him, while those from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) jeered him.

Amidst heightened political tension as elections loom in February, the atmosphere got so rowdy that President Buhari had to remind lawmakers that the whole world was watching Nigeria. Responding to the debacle, Muric director Professor Ishaq Akintola said the attitude of the lawmakers was infantile, pedestrian and ludicrous.

He added: “Our lawmakers manifested articulated immaturity and exhibited pronounced desertification of parliamentary decorum. They desecrated the hallowed chamber, which was such a shame of a National Assembly

“They descended to the lowest abyss of disgraceful conduct and it is now very clear that the eighth National Assembly is suffering from acute poverty of patriotism, a yawning lacunae for dignity and an irredeemable deficiency in righteousness. To boo and jeer during the presentation of an annual budget shows that our legislators are not interested in how Nigeria makes progress as this was an occasion when lawmakers are expected to show seriousness as the fate of the nation and its people for the next year was being reeled out."

Professor Akintola added that in saner climes, the elected representatives of the people manifest concern as the budget of their country is read, eschewing politics and listening with rapt attention. He pointed out that these are the same lawmakers who delayed the 2018 budget for seven months and refused to have anything to do with it until they had sliced off the juiciest portions unto themselves.

“Muric is not depriving the lawmakers of their right to disagree with the executive but no lawmaker worth their salt anywhere in the world will carry political disagreement to issues pertaining to the welfare of the citizens. The budget of a country reflects the fate of the people and their welfare at least for that year and sometimes impacts on their future.

"For choosing to make caricatures of themselves on that august occasion, our lawmakers have proved that they are not worth the trust reposed in them. Muric is not tongue-lashing the lawmakers for booing, we are chastising them for booing without knowing when to stop," Professor Akintola added.

He pointed out that President Donald Trump was booed during the State of the Union address on January 17 2018 but it was done in a very civilized manner. According to the Muric leader, Democrats who booed President Trump kept quiet after a while and listened attentively because they knew it was about America, not about Trump.

Professor Akintola said: "They booed Trump for being inhuman by trying to halt chain immigration of poor people from the Third World, that was issue-based. Our own lawmakers booed the president non-stop to the extent that Speaker Dogara who was expected to deliver the closing remarks could not do so as they booed without borders and threw caution to the winds.

"They booed President Buhari for identifying with the poor masses of Nigeria, for refusing to steal and for exposing their voracious gluttony. It is laughable, detestable, repulsive and condescending, it is, indeed, a tale of two cities."

Muric said it salutes President Buhari for remaining calm and composed throughout the day, adding that his comportment unsettled his adversaries. Professor Akintola said the president made the nation proud by refusing to lose his temper.