Senate President David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal fired back at the Presidential aide.
Mark described Dr. Okupe as ill informed.
Mark, who spoke through a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Kola Ologbodiyan, said there is no basis for Okupe to claim that he derided President Jonathan in his speech during the presentation of the 2013 budget.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to media attacks on the Office and Person of the President of the Senate, by Senior Special Assistant to Mr. President Dr. Doyin Okupe to the effect that the President of the Senate derided President Goodluck Jonathan during the budget presentation on Wednesday.
“It is instructive to state that Senator Mark and Mr. President are on the same page in the onerous task of ensuring the actualisation of the transformation agenda of this administration.
“There was nothing derisive in the welcome address of the President of the Senate at the budget presentation.
“We challenge Dr. Okukpe to revisit the speech and discover his misadventure.
“It is therefore strange that Dr. Okupe would meddlesomely attempt to create unnecessary disaffection between the legislature and the executive.
“It is common knowledge that budgets are estimates of revenues and expenditures of the Federation for the next financial year.
“Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is very explicit. The position of the Senate which was expressed by the President of the Senate is that in line with constitutional provisions, the legislature has a right of appropriation.
“Dr. Okupe as a public affairs manager, has a responsibility to make friends and create a harmonious working relationship between the executive and other arms of government. His job is not to make enemies and create unfavourable atmosphere for Mr. President.
“We take exception to such unwarranted attack on the Office of the President of the Senate and we urge Dr. Okupe to know his limits.”
Spokesman of Tambuwal Mallam Imam Imam said in a statement: “The attention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has been drawn to a news conference addressed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, where he made disparaging remarks about the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly with regards to the remarks of Senate President David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the presentation of the 2013 budget.
“The Speaker wishes to state that the remarks of the two leaders are in conformity with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and that all statements by the two leaders were backed by facts and figures from field studies by the legislators and expert advise.
“It is apparent that Okupe is dabbling into areas where he is totally ignorant about.
“The uncouth manner in which he replied elected representatives showed his apparent lack of respect for the legislature as an institution. The entire remarks he made gave him out as an overzealous official doing a hatchet job in order to be relevant in the scheme of things.
Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media And Public Affairs, Victor Ogene said the House of Representatives was too busy to give attention to people like Dr. Doyin Okupe “who are worn – out politicians, seeking relevance, and so they must pander and speak to draw their principals into unnecessary confrontations.
“It is for the Nigerian people to judge. If the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs is saying that the MDAs are incapable of utilizing legitimately approved funds, all he’s saying is that the entire executive branch lacks capacity to serve the Nigerian people.
“It’s a serious indictment and it is not one that the House of Representatives will join in making merry over. Instead, we will be more determined than ever to correct this anomaly.
“Talking about the Speaker being dictatorial, the Speaker since his emergence has never tended to act as Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. He has instead at every point and turn reflected the wishes and position of the entire 360-member House of Representatives.
“Of course, if this were not so, if we disagreed with Mr. Speaker, it will show in our response to any issue that he speaks about. But as you can see from the standing ovation that the got intermittently, it shows clearly that the Speaker was speaking the minds of his colleagues in the House of Representatives.”
The Nation
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