President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the
National Assembly met on Wednesday night at the Aso Villa to
discuss matters said to be related to the 2016 budget.

Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara, jointly led the leadership of the National
Assembly to the meeting with the President.

Others who attended the meeting from the Senate included the
Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume; the Deputy Majority
Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah; Senate Minority Leader, Godswill
Akpabio and Minority Whip, Philip Aduda.

Those who attended from the House of Representatives
included the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun; and House Leader,
Femi Gbajabiamila.

They all arrived the venue in a convoy at about 8.45pm.

Conspicuously missing at the meeting however was the Deputy
President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu.

The meeting however started at about 9.15pm when Buhari,
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and some top government
officials arrived at the venue.

Journalists were barred from covering the meeting which was
held inside the First Lady’s Conference Hall inside the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.

But findings by The News indicated that Buhari’s plan to
send a 2015 supplementary budget to the National Assembly
was a key item on the agenda.
A senior National Assembly official informed The News that
the performance of the 2015 budget also featured at the meeting.

“First would be to look at issues surrounding the main 2015
budget and why there is a need for a supplementary proposal.

“Of course, this will dovetail into talks about the 2016 budget,”
the source stated.

The Presidency had two weeks ago hinted of a plan by Buhari
to forward a supplementary budget to the legislature.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan had signed a 2015 budget
of N4.4tn shortly before he exited office on May 29.
The National Assembly had passed the budget in April with a
crude oil benchmark of $53 per barrel.
However, oil has sold far below the budgeted figure for months.
The development has and created seeming implementation
bottlenecks for the budget.

It was also learnt that the meeting might discuss the leadership
crisis occasioned by the emergence of Saraki as the Senate
President.

Saraki, who is currently being prosecuted by the Code of
Conduct Tribunal for alleged false declaration of assets,
emerged the President of the Senate against the party’s choice of
Ahmed Lawan.

Since the elections in the Senate, Saraki has been having a
running battle with the leadership of the governing All
Progressives Congress.

It was also gathered the meeting was one of the steps being
taken to resolve the crisis and reconcile Saraki with the
leadership of the party.

It will be recalled that Dogara had on Monday evening met with
Buhari on the Saraki issue.

The Speaker met with the President following a resolution by
the House that he should intervene in the crisis.

The meeting might also be aimed at securing smooth passage for
ministerial nominees whose names were sent to the Senate by
the President last week.

The meeting was still ongoing as at the time of filing this report.