Senators were on Thursday divided along party lines over the N189 billion request by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2019 elections.
The Eagle Online is reporting that the disagreement was at the ongoing consideration of the budget for the elections by senators on Thursday.
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier presented a supplementary budget of N242 billion to the Senate for the elections, covering proposed expenses by INEC and security agencies, especially the Department of State Services.
In the proposal by the President, N143 billion was for INEC out of the N242 billion.
However, INEC’s budget to the Senate was N189.
While Senator Muhammed Hassan of the Peoples Democratic Party supported the approval of N143 billion as contained in President Buhari’s request to the National Assembly, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress wanted the approval of N189 billion presented by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
The heated debate was ongoing at the closed door session, with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters also joining.
Yakubu had appeared before the Senate and House of Representatives Committees to justify the N189 billion requested for the 2019 general elections.
The meeting was ongoing as at press time.
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