UPDATED: Obasanjo backs Buhari, says he never signed budgets without seeing the details

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa.

The leaders met behind closed doors, shielding any speck of reason for the congress from journalists.

Obasanjo had held a private meeting with Buhari – a few months after he was sworn in as president – on August 8, 2015.

On September 8, the former president also held another private meeting with Buhari.

The president received details of the 2016 budget on Thursday, after dithering on his assent for weeks, insisting that he had to see the details of the document before signing.

Abdulmuminu Jibrin, chairman, house committee on appropriation, had told journalists that the president was at liberty to assent to the budget without the details, recalling that Obasanjo did so in his days on the saddle.

Abdulmuminu Jibrin, chairman, house committee on appropriation, had told journalists that the president was at liberty to assent to the budget without the details, recalling that Obasanjo did so in his days as president.

But speaking briefly with state house correspondents after meeting with Buhari, Obasanjo denied ever signing budgets without details through out his eight-year tenure.

“I signed budget without details? Anybody who told you that, go and ask him again,” he said.

‎Asked his comment on the 2016 appropriation billl, he said: “Before I will be able to tell you something about the budget, I have to read it and know what it contains and know what to talk about.”.

Asked why he was visiting the villa, he said: “You know that not too long ago, I was out there. I have come to share some of my experiences with him.”

Pressed on the nature of the experiences he shared, he said: “Haha! If I say I shared experiences with my wife, you will ask me wetin I talk with my wife?”