The Senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi over his allegations of padding the 2024 Budget by the leadership of the National Assembly.
Ningi, from Bauchi Central Senatorial District, was suspended for three months after a long stormy session in the red chamber.
The lawmaker representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, first moved the motion for Ningi’s suspension for 12 months over allegations of criminal misinformation and breach of peace in the National Assembly and the country by extension.
However, other lawmakers like Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong moved for the amendment of the motion and prayed for the reduction of the suspension. In the end, the Senate reached the 3-month timeline.
How It All Started:
Trouble started on Sunday when Senator Abdul Ningi in his capacity as Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum alleged that over 3 trillion naira was padded into the 2024 federal Budget.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Senator Ningi said the Senate originally passed the budget size of 25 trillion naira, alleging that an additional 3 trillion was added without being tied to any specific project.
However, his allegations were quickly rebuffed by the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly who both pushed back against the allegations of budget padding. Both branches of the federal government said the budget of 28.7 trillion naira was duly passed and enacted into law in line with the constitutional provisions.
The controversy created an uproar in the Senate, with many calling for severe sanctions on Ningi. And during plenary on Tuesday, the Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele described Senator Ningi’s comments as a “civilian coup”.
Senator Bamidele accused Senator Ningi of trying to unseat Senate President Godswill Akpabio by allegedly inciting the Northern Senators’ Forum against Akpabio, a southern senator.
Senator Akpabio in his remarks, said the integrity of the Senate has been damaged by the development.
“Nigerians are bashing the Senate. Many Nigerians will never in future come back to respect this chamber. The integrity of this chamber has been totally damaged and we wanted you to repair it with your speech,” he said.
“Instead of that, you said you have more documents to prove what you are saying. This thing is in the public glare. I have not received full details up to this moment. If you had given me full details, I would have been able to know what you know.
“So far, what you know is only known to you, it is not known to any other person. I don’t know how you rushed to the press carrying different versions. The social media is very fast. From Canada, the United States, everywhere, the story was budget padding by the Senate.”
However, despite the backlash against Senator Ningi, the lawmaker from Cross River North, Senator Agom Jarigbe stated that no Senator had the right to accuse Ningi.
“All of us are culpable. Some so-called Senior Senators here got 500M Naira each from the 2024 Budget, I am a ranking Senator and I didn’t get anything. No Senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi.”
