Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has urged President Bola Tinubu and other politicians to increase their good works and minimise their evil deeds during Ramadan.
Mr Abbas, who sat at the same table with Mr Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, made this call while speaking at the Ramadan fast iftar Mr Tinubu hosted in the Villa for House of Representatives members on Wednesday.
“Your excellency, this is one moment I want to urge us all to double in our effort to make life of Nigerians easier,” Mr Abbas said. “This is the month that God has said for every good deeds you do, he will double it. Likewise for everything bad you do, he’ll double it for you.
He added, “So I want to urge us to increase our good deeds and to use this month to minimise our bad deeds. If we can eliminate them, all the better. If we can’t, let us minimise as much as possible.”
Meanwhile, Mr Tinubu on Wednesday urged Mr Abass to relax summons on heads of ministries, departments, and agencies so that they can concentrate on their duties.
The president’s statement followed the lower legislative committee on public accounts’ threat to obtain an arrest warrant against Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor, Yemi Cardoso, for failing to honour several invitations from the House to answer queries on alleged revenue leakages and a claim that revenue sourced through Remita for the Treasury Single Account was not remitted.
“I have been watching various committees summoning ministers and heads of agencies. I have complained to the speaker to let the poor breathe. Let these people do the job,” Mr Tinubu said, rebuking Mr Abbas at the programme held in Abuja.
The president added, “We are not saying you cannot do your oversight. But consider the primary duty of each agency, its personnel, or the responsibilities of the governor of the central bank or the coordinating minister of the economy and minister of finance to you and the entire nation.”
The president noted that legislators should be able to accept documents and representatives to stand in lieu of summoned officials, giving room for flexibility in their legislative obligations so as not to impede other officials from carrying out theirs.
“We must find a way to accommodate one another. This is an appeal to you. See if you can accept representatives in some instances or even documentations,” Mr Tinubu suggested. ”If they are distracted or disturbed, maybe we will shift parliamentary sitting all through the night.”
The legislators summoned Mr Cardoso in January to explain why the nation was undergoing harrowing inflation.
The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation had rejected an appearance by Mr Cardoso’s subordinate on December 8, 2023, as the committee chair, Abubakar Kabir Bichi, insisted that Mr Cardoso must “appear in person because we are talking about the budget and how to increase our revenue.”
Last month, the Reps Committee on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises also invited Mr Cardoso to question him about the cancellation of N2.4 billion contracts with some manufacturing companies.
Recently, Mr Tinubu hosted the Federal Executive Council members to the breaking of the fast (Iftar).
Ministers of information and national orientation, housing, FCT, transportation, youths and service chiefs attended the event at the banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
Breaking the fast during Ramadan is a tradition at the Aso Rock Villa, the residence of the Nigerian presidents since 1999.
The occasion started with the Magrib prayer led by the chief imam of the Villa, Abdulwahid Suleiman.
The president thereafter leads the guests for the banquet, which normally lasts for an hour before the night prayer of Isha.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Adult Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for 29 or 30 days.
