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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A Northern group, Arewa Movement for Good Governance (AM2G), has expressed concern over the recent suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi from the National Assembly, saying the country’s democracy was losing its meaning to the detriment of the people.
Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central, was suspended for three months over allegations of N3.7 trillion padding of the 2024 budget.
The convener of the group and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Usman Bugaje, said at a press conference yesterday that it was unfair for an issue of such magnitude to be swept under the carpet without a thorough investigation to prove beyond doubts to the Nigerian public, who ostensibly elected the senators to represent them, that the lawmakers were not culpable.
To this end, Bugaje noted that the nation’s democracy cannot deliver development with the kind of National Assembly in place.
“The National Assembly is an accomplice in the mass looting of the public treasury that has today become the budget process. Meanwhile, Nigerians are impoverished and marginalised; they struggle to survive with no hope for improvement.
“Now, we can see why we spent billions of dollars in electricity without a substantial increase in megawatts of electricity, and the culprits are going scot-free; why our economy has been shrinking and ending up in shambles; why our youths cannot find jobs; why our country is on this dangerous trajectory, heading for the rocks; and why this country, under this rogue politics, has no future at all.”
Dr. Bugaje further expressed worry that the political trend in the country raised serious concerns about a culpable National Assembly and a failing Nigerian state, adding that his group was compelled to address the lingering crisis facing the nation.
He urged Nigerians to follow suit by raising their voices, and demanding accountability from their leaders, pointing out that the decision to suspend Ningi was a total violation of his fundamental rights.
“Suspension of Senator Ningi appears to be a panic measure that violates the principles of representation in a democracy. It is clearly an evasive move to distract attention from the issues raised. It is also unfair for an issue of this magnitude to be swept under the carpet without a thorough investigation to prove beyond doubts to the Nigerian public, who ostensibly elected these senators to represent them that the senators are not culpable. From the video clips shown by the media covering the NASS, we found it intriguing that after the suspension, and as Ningi was walking out of the chamber with the heap of evidence in his hands, no senator appeared to show any compunction.
“This suggests a conspiracy of silence in the supposedly hallowed chamber or is it a chamber of shame? It apparently did not occur to the Senate that they were judges in their own court, or worse still, they were the prosecutors and the jury at the same time.
“We are forced to ask the question, Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, what is distinguishing in this behaviour? Where is your conscience? What do you want us to think of you? About the padding of the 2024 budget, today, there are mountains of evidence that massive, some would say outrageous padding has taken place in the 2024 budget. Even as Ningi was not allowed to present his evidence, as he was shouted down and his mic switched off intermittently, in whatever little way he was able to expose the matter, there was still enough malfeasance and fleecing to be worried about,” Bugaje stated.
