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Senate President Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and some principal officers of the National Assembly on Thursday night stormed away from Aso Rock.
This was after the lawmakers reportedly took umbrage to being asked to submit themselves to searches before they are allowed entry into the villa.
They were reportedly at the presidential villa to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the 2018 appropriation bill.
An aide to one of the lawmakers said that the Chief Security Officer to the President insisted on searching each of the 20 lawmakers as on getting to Aso Rock.
This however was said to have annoyed the legislators who insisted that there was no need for a personal screening.
The matter as was reported could not be resolved, resulting in the turning back of the lawmakers.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has apologised to the leadership of the National Assembly over the cancellation of the planned dinner for the lawmakers in the State House.
Reports has it that the President was to host the lawmakers to dinner at the new Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, by 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
He, however, met behind closed doors at his official residence with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara with the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and some presidential aides in attendance.
Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, told State House correspondents on Thursday night that the President offered the apology after the closed-door meeting with the Senate President and the Speaker.
He said the President rescheduled the dinner with the lawmakers for Oct. 31. It was reliably learnt that the Thursday’s planned dinner failed to hold due to a misunderstanding between security officials at the main gate of the Aso Rock and the lawmakers.
According to sources, the lawmakers were asked to come down from the bus conveying them to the Villa in order to be issued visitor’s tags, but they were said to have turned back.
The President was to use the opportunity of the dinner to discuss some national issues including the approved draft 2018 budget. The draft budget was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on October 26.
Source :NAN