The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Dr. Ali Ahmad, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress, in this interview with SUCCESS NWOGU of The Punch , said the blockage of the passage of the 2014 appropriation bill and other executive bills has yielded results for Nigerians

Some Nigerians don't know the objectives of the blockage of the passage of the 2014 budget by members of the House of Representative, who belong to the All Progressives Congress. What really are the objectives?

Nobody went to the House that day to stall the budget. The issues that were raised were legal matters. A committee has been set up and the issue before the committee is whether the budget complies with the law as stipulated or not. If it does, that is the end of the matter. If it does not, what should the National Assembly do? That is when we now say, ‘okay are we to stall it?' And I am sure nobody will vote to stall the budget. But you need to determine the issue: Whether the budget presented complies with the law.

 It was learnt that the ongoing blockage of the 2014 budget passage by APC lawmakers was meant to compel President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the political crisis in Rivers State. Does this mean you believe that Jonathan is behind the crisis or that he has deliberately allowed the conflict to fester?

We do not know where the problem is coming from. But everybody knows that a Commissioner of Police cannot, out of his own folly, do the things the former Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, was doing, contrary to resolutions of the House, Senate and the call of all well-meaning Nigerians that he be transferred. Now that the authorities have seen reason, although belatedly, we say it is still good. That is what the APC is saying. Last Thursday night, the APC caucus of the House of Representatives issued a statement that the two conditions had been met by the authorities. The conditions are: one, that they should let rallies continue even if not political and two, they should transfer Mbu.  Now that the two have happened, I think, we are on the same page.  But without prejudice to that, the committee will still go ahead and make its findings.

 The PDP has said your posture was meant to punish the masses and discredit the ruling. Is that correct?

To the contrary, Nigerians are the winners at the end of the day. Irrespective of the party that wins in 2015, whether the PDP or APC, or any other party, it is good for a country to have two strong national parties. In fact, Nigerians should be celebrating today. We said impunity should stop. Everybody screamed at the height of his voice and nothing happened, when you have a strong opposition that opened its eyes and said there will be no passage of the budget unless things are done the right way.

 Do you mean that the filibuster directive by the APC leadership led the redeployment of Mbu?

What else? We passed a resolution and nothing happened? A resolution of the National Assembly is like a law. For over two months, the authorities did nothing. Then we used an extreme power and you can see the result within a few days. I do not know what message the authorities are trying to send. But Nigerians should now know that any time there is impunity, they should call on their representatives.  And that is what happens in advance countries. So, Nigerians have understood that whenever there is impunity, they can come up with the powers they have in the constitution.

 But some hold the view that your party did not consider the overall effect of disrupting the passage of the appropriation bill on the entire populace?

There is no disruption. But Nigerians have gained because I cannot see any other budget that will be open to serious scrutiny like that of this year. So, the issue we are talking about is that Nigeria and Nigerians will be the beneficiaries.

 Are you not concerned that the same bill had passed the second reading at the Senate?

The constitution envisages two houses of the parliament. What goes on in the Senate cannot go in the House. The House has its ways of doing things.  At the end, when our committee comes back, it does not matter whatever the Senate has done.  If technically, the budget presented is contrary to the law, the Senate could not have gone ahead with the passage. But it is a process; the Senate has not passed it. It just referred it to the committee but we are saying that before it goes to the committee, let us determine whether it is contrary to the law. If it is contrary to the law, we can now go back and say what else will happen and we start the debate. Even when we get there, Nigerians will have it better because the implementation of the last year's budget was not more than 30 per cent. Now this year, you have 23 per cent voted for capital expenditure. So what you have in 2014 is about 30 per cent of the 23 per cent capital expenditure. That is infinitesimal. So in 2014, all this noise about infrastructure is baseless because you only have 30 per cent of the 23 per cent of N4.6trn.

 Do you think your aims will be achieved with the frustration of the budget passage and other executive bills?

With what the minority leader has said in his statement on Thursday, there is no issue for now because the blockage tactics was an extreme directive to a fiscally irresponsible government because when you do things contrary to the law, and all persuasions have been presented without any success, then there is need to go to the extreme. So, there is no reason to go to the extreme. The aim has been achieved. Mbu has been removed and the rule of law has been restored. So, now that we are on the same page we will continue in the interest of the nation.

 Won't the action of the APC lawmakers work against the party, since many people see opposing the passage of the budget as an action against national interest?

Nobody opposed the budget. We are saying that we are not passing the budget until the President does the right thing. Now the budget will proceed for legislative action.

 Now that Joseph Mbu has been removed as the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, will you re-consider your posture against executive bills?

We have reconsidered it.  We are now saying that we have achieved our aim and the budget can now proceed. You can see that Mbu was transferred to which state? No state governor wants him. No state governor wants a lawless CP. No state government will take him. So, Nigerians should applaud the APC for this development.