There was a serious drama at the Nigerian senate on Tuesday following a rowdy plenary among the lawmakers over an allegation that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion.
The debate was sequel to a motion moved by Solomon Adeola, senator representing Ogun west, who said his privilege as a senator was breached.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Adeola Olamilekan also raised the issue through a motion, calling for the investigation of the claim by Ningi.
Senator Olamilekan’s motion was seconded by Senator Joel Onawakpo, afterwhich Senators engaged in a heated debate to speak on the matter.
DAILY GIST reports that Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central had stirred commotion when he alleged in an interview that “huge damage” has been done to the entire country through the budget.
Ningi claimed that the Nigerian government is operating two versions of the 2024 budget and that the N28.7 trillion Budget passed and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu was skewed against the north.
Recall that the national assembly had passed a budget of N28.7 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year.
President Bola Tinubu had proposed N27.5 trillion, but the lawmakers raised it up by N1.2 trillion.
The Ogun west senator said his privilege was breached because he participated in the budgeting process.
“Ningi has maintained that N3 trillion in the budget was not linked to anything,” Adeola said.
My privilege has been breached because I was one of those who participated in the preparation of the budget. With what has transpired in the last three days, my privilege has been breached.”
Senator Adamu Aliero representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District raised a point of order, asking the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to ensure fair hearing by allowing the man at the centre of the controversy to state his side of the story.
Responding, Akpabio, who was initially angred about Senator Ningi’s interjection of Senator Aliero’s motion, said: “For me I think this is a very straightforward matter. We have a situation to be the stabiliser of the National Assembly.”
Ningi eventually got a chance to defend himself, saying he had documents to prove his claim.
But the upper legislative chamber immediately descended into chaos when Jarigbe Jarigbe, senator representing Cross River north, claimed that some “older senators” got N500 million in the budget for constituency projects.
“Let us wash our dirty linen in public,” Jarigbe said.
However, the Senate, on Tuesday afternoon, suspended Ningi from the Red Chamber for three months.
The decision followed the lawmaker’s claim that the 2024 Budget was allegedly padded by N3trillion and that there were two versions of the budget in circulation, among others.
Following his suspension, Ningi resigns his position as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF).
