Jonathan avoids National Assembly, sends Okonjo-Iweala to present 2015 budget

President Goodluck Jonathan confirmed Tuesday he will not be presenting the 2015 budget proposal personally to the National Assembly, in a move that appears aimed at avoiding a possible confrontation with lawmakers.

Mr. Jonathan has mandated finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to do the presentation on his behalf.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala will present the budget Wednesday (today) , separately to the Senate and the House of Representatives, both houses of parliament announced Tuesday.

Lawmakers have been furious at Mr. Jonathan after police launched a humiliating raid on the National Assembly in November, firing teargas as they attempted to stop the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, from entering the complex.

The government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have remained angry with Mr. Tambuwal after he defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Jonathan has not categorically denied knowledge of the police siege, although his office claimed the police acted right to check an alleged assault on the National Assembly by hoodlums.

Lawmakers have been more infuriated after nearly half of them lost out at the primaries of the two major parties in the last two weeks…