The Presidency has dismissed reports of strained relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly, saying conflict would not be in any party’s interest.

It noted that Buhari would rather sustain the current “cordial understanding” between the two sides.

Insinuations of possible tension between the legislature and the executive showed on Tuesday when Buhari attacked the constituency projects of senators and members of the House of Representatives, whom he accused of wasting over N1trn on controversial projects in the last 10 years.

The attack, which came while the President was addressing an anti-corruption summit organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission in Abuja, angered some senators and members of House of Representatives.

The President had stated, “Corruption is the cause of many major problems in our country. It is a catalyst for poverty, insecurity, weak educational system, poor health facilities and services and many other ills of our society.

“This government is working hard to overcome such ills. Corruption generally and public sector corruption, in particular, inhibits the ability of government to deliver infrastructure and basic services to the people.

“It is on record that in the past 10 years, N1trn has been appropriated for constituency projects; yet the impact of such huge spending on the lives and welfare of ordinary Nigerians can hardly be seen.”

The National Assembly fired back the next day, saying the President might have received wrong briefing on the funding and relevance of constituency projects to the electorate who voted them into power.

The House Minority Leader, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, said the N1tn the President talked about was on paper but not funded.

“In the past 10 years, N100bn has been budgeted annually, but our constituents have not got value for the money spent. Yes money has been budgeted but the releases have not been up to 30 per cent,” Elumelu, a former chairman, House Committee on Power and Steel (2007-2011), said.

Commenting on the development, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Umar El-Yakub, told our correspondent that the comments by the President and the response by the legislature did not indicate there was tension between the two sides.

He said, “We are handling it. He (President) has said his own and the National Assembly said theirs; but we have to come to a point where everybody understands. We don’t want it to snowball into something else. So, we are handling it.

“We and the National Assembly will have to be on the same page. Even if we disagree, we have to disagree based on certain parameters. But as you know, there is a fantastic relationship between the 9th Assembly and the executive and we will like to keep that relationship going forward.”

Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after Buhari criticised the N1trn allegedly wasted on constituency projects, he again on Thursday accused the 8th National Assembly of slowing down governance by delaying the passage of budgets.

While the current Senate President was the Senate Leader in the 8th Assembly, while Gbajabiamila was the House Leader.

Speaking at a meeting with the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, Buhari said, “The 8th National Assembly sometimes kept the budget for seven months. And I had to call the Senate President and the Speaker then. I told them by delaying passage of the budget, you are not hurting Buhari but the people.”

He recalled that in spite of his interventions, the National Assembly continued to delay the budget.

Meanwhile, Lawan said on same Thursday that the current Senate would treat any proposal from Buhari expeditiously, saying any request from him was good for the nation.