- Ningi resigns as Northern Senators’ Forum chairman
- Budget padding allegation, a civilian coup – Senate Leader
- Uproar over revelation that senior senators receive N500m for projects
There was uproar in the Senate on Tuesday as the Senate suspended the lawmaker representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, for three months.
Ningi was suspended after about three hours of debate over his interview in which he alleged that the National Assembly padded the 2024 N28.7 trillion budget.
The Senate also cautioned Senator Suleiman Kawu (NNPP, Kano South) against sharing and distributing disturbing news about the Senate.
Senator Olamilekan Adeola (Ogun West) had come under Orders 9, 10, 41, and 51 to move a motion of privilege and issue of national importance against Ningi over his interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Service).
Ningi had, in the interview on Saturday, alleged that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year is N25 trillion while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7 trillion.
Ningi, also at a press conference on Monday, said that N3 trillion was left unaccounted for in the 2024 budget.
Adeola, in his motion, stated that in the January-December Budget Cycle, sub-committees submitted their harmonized reports to the Committee on Appropriation and the report of the Committee on Appropriation submitted to the Senate was unanimously passed on Saturday, December 30, 2023 and a budget of N28.77 trillion was assented by the President on January 1, 2024.
He said, “The additional increase of N1.2 trillion to what was presented by the President came during the appropriation process through additional funding requests and some items of expenditure to the Committee that were not included in the bill as submitted by the President and were meant to address additional funding for the Judiciary, Agriculture and Food Security, Works, Science and Technology, Education, Water Resources, National Assembly, Health and National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
“The additional source of funding for the increase came from the increase in the benchmark of naira to dollar from N750-N800, increase in Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) revenue and other sources.”
Adeola, thereafter prayed the Senate that pursuant to Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Order 2023 (as Amended) allow immediate deliberation of the matter and take appropriate action deemed fit in the overriding public interest and as a matter of urgent public importance to prevent break down of law and order.
He prayed, “Take further necessary steps to correct the wrong impression in the public domain of the 2024 budget created by the BBC interview and other national media houses and social media platforms by Senator Abdul Ningi and amplified by Senator Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu through his Facebook account and other social media platforms; and
“Take any further decision as the senate deems fit and proper to safeguard the integrity of the 2024 budget which is pivotal to the revamping of our economy.”
After extensive deliberation, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South) moved a motion that Ningi be suspended for 12 months.
Still, the motion was amended by Senator Asququo Ekpeyong (APC, Cross River South) that the punishment be reduced to six months.
Senator Garba Maidoki (PDP, Kebbi South) then moved that Ningi be suspended for three months or that an apology be accepted if he wrote to the Senate within 24 hours.
He was seconded by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), whose motion the Senate eventually adopted.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in his initial comment before the debate, noted that Nigerians were bashing the Senate.
Akpabio said, “Nigerians are bashing the Senate. Many Nigerians will never come back to respect this chamber in the future. The integrity of this chamber has been totally damaged, and we wanted you (Ningi) to repair it with your speech.
“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 yet received the full details. 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. Social media is very fast. From Canada, the United States, everywhere, the story was about budget padding by the Senate.”
Ningi resigns as northern senators’ forum chairman
Consequently, Senator Ningi has resigned from his position as the chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum.
Although the resignation letter was dated March 11, a copy was released shortly after Ningi was suspended by the Senate for three months following his comments on the alleged padding of the 2024 budget.
It reads, “I would like to resign my position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum. This is of course necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large.
“I would like to specially thank members of the forum for the opportunity given to me for the last eight (8) months to spearhead this very important forum. I believe this forum is very important and fundamental to the progress and development of Northern Nigeria,” Ningi added.
Ningi’s budget padding allegation, a civilian coup – Senate Leader
In a related development, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has alleged that Senator Abdul Ningi was propagating an impeachment agenda against Senate President, Godswill AKpabio, despite the Northern Senators Forum not being in support of it.
Bamidele, representing Ekiti Central, on Tuesday, maintained that what Ningi did was tantamount to a failed civilian coup, adding that he only wanted to use the Northern Senators’ Forum to push his agenda.
The Senate Leader further said the attempt to take over the Senate’s leadership beyond June 13, 2024, must stop.
Bamidele, while reacting to the allegation, said, “I am speaking as Senator Opeyemi Bamidele representing Ekiti, not as a Senate Leader to say that Ningi was only fuelling this budget padding allegation to push for a failed civilian coup in the Senate.
“Over 60 senators voted for Akpabio, and over 40 voted against him. That’s the will of the majority. But a few have refused to let the electioneering activities pass them by. They still hold bile, and that is why it is always about Akpabio, never about the Senate, House of Representatives, DG, or Budget.
“All of us passed this budget, and it was never about Mr President who signed this budget. It is always about Akpabio. We have momentum; this is a defining moment for all of us to say if we are going to have a stable Senate.
“It is not about North and South. It is about our rules (the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria). It is about our people who are hungry and deprived. Mr President (Akpabio), make no mistake, if your people who feel they are not going to give you more than one year to spend on this chair, they want to do everything possible before the 13th of June to remove you.
“I want Nigerians to know for history’s sake that the last time the people of South-South had a chance to be Senate President was 40 years ago. The last time the South had a chance to be Senate President was during Obasanjo’s administration when it went to the South East.
“Five people were elected because they were impeached in quick succession. But as soon as it left the South, we had peace because we (the South) will always cooperate. David Mark spent eight years. Ahmad Lawan spent four peaceful years. Even Saraki, with all he did, spent four peaceful years.
“It is about Akpabio, it is about the South, you can now understand why Senator Ningi will want to use the platform of the Northern Senators Forum to push an agenda even when they disagreed with him. Mr President, I plead with you that this is an opportunity for us to let our rules prevail.
Uproar over revelation that senior senators receive N500m for projects
Meanwhile, there was uproar in the Senate over the revelation that ranking senators received N500 million each for projects.
Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe of the People’s Democratic Party representing Cross River North had revealed during a Senate session that ranking senators received a sum of N500 million each.
Senator Agom-Jarigbe’s revelation that ranking senators received N500 million each sparked uproar among the senators and caused a rowdy session.
He said, “We are going back and forth on this issue and coming up with issues of the budget and individual issues concerning what came to our various constituencies.
“If we want to go into all those issues, all of us are culpable. Some so-called Senior Senators here got N500 million each, I am a ranking Senator. I didn’t get anything, did I go to the press?”
The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, while speaking after the uproar had died down, clarified that the said N500 million was for constituency projects.
