•Condemns Senator’s suspension
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, yesterday, declared that his government was in firm support of embattled Senator Abdul Ningi, following a three-month suspension handed him on Tuesday by the Senate over his outcry on alleged N3.7 trillion 2024 budget padding.
Ningi, represents Bauchi Central senatorial district at the upper chamber of the National Assembly. Following his suspension, Ningi announced his resignation as Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF).
Trouble started when after the Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), had said, on the floor of the Senate that the Upper Chamber had inaugurated a template for the speedy consideration and passage of the 2024 Money Bill just as he initiated the motion on breach of privilege by the Bauchi senator.
Adeola had moved a motion of privilege and issue of national importance under orders 9, 10, 41, and 51, against Ningi over the interview he granted BBC Hausa Service. Adeola had alleged a breach of privilege. Following Adeola’s motion, a member of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, 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. Though the motion to suspend Ningi received majority approval, the period was reduced to three months following the intervention made by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong and Senator Abdulfatai Buhari in their amendment of the suspension order.
Ekpenyong, representing Cross River South, suggested reducing the suspension to six months, while Buhari from Oyo North proposed three months. Following a voice vote that was conducted, a majority of the lawmakers voted in support of Ningi’s suspension for three months. The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio had earlier described Ningi’s offences as “grievous.
But reacting to Ningi’s suspension, Governor Mohammed, who is also the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum said: “Yesterday, I was very sad the Senate suspended one of our best from Bauchi for telling the truth, for standing up to be the beacon of the truth.”
He spoke during the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Bauchi.
“Equally I don’t know what we will do but we will discuss privately to see what we can do to support him because I support whatever he is doing and that is our best position especially if what he says is the truth,” the governor added. “In today’s State Executive Council meeting, I made it clear that I stand firm in our support for Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi, of Bauchi Central,” Mohammed wrote on his official X account on Monday.
He added, “I emphasised the importance of preserving dissent within our political landscape without resorting to punitive actions. I am committed to examining Senator Ningi’s situation further. It is common knowledge that Senator Ningi is one of the best performing senators whose heritage and uprightness, ancestry and integrity are worthy of praise.”