Danjuma Goje speaks, says police carted away 2017 budget documents during raid

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The Chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations whose residence was raided by the police last week, has said files containing work on the 2017 budget proposal were carted away during the raid. Mr. Goje, a former Gombe State governor, made the disclosure before the Senate on Wednesday when the matter came under Order 43 of the Senate Rules and he was asked to report the raid on his residence, located at Asokoro, Abuja.

Mr. Goje’s committee, alongside a similar one at the House of Representatives, has oversight responsibility over the country’s budget. He told the Senate that the police carted away laptops and 18 documents that contained the work of his committee on the 2017 budget.

The report on the budget proposal was scheduled to be laid this week. He added that the operatives broke into rooms whose keys they could not get and also carted away a sum of N18 million.

PREMIUM TIMES had provided details of the raid including documents and money recovered by the police team.

In its resolution, the Senate tasked an ad-hoc committee to look into the matter and also investigate the circumstances around the alleged attempted assassination of Dino Melaye.

The police are yet to make a public statement over the raid.

The current 2016 budget, by the provision of the 2016 Appropriations Act, expires on May 5.

But with the development, with the claim of losing files, the 2017 budget may not be ready for legislative passage before the expiration of the current budget.