• Akpabio, Jibrin visit Tinubu, Ningi resigns as chairman of NSF
From Fred Itua and Okwe Obi, Abuja
After four hours of heated arguments and debates, the Senate yesterday, suspended Abdul Ningi, for accusing the National Assembly of padding the 2024 budget, despite attempts by Northern lawmakers to rescue him.
Ningi, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, made some startling revelations. He had claimed that Tinubu was operating two national budgets, one approved by the National Assembly, and the other unknown to the Parliament.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Ningi expressed fears that he might be suspended by his colleagues, following his media outburst, wherein he made serious allegations.
Trouble started at about 12 noon yesterday, when the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan, raised some points of order, bordering on privileges, false claims and integrity of the Senate.
In his point of order, the Ogun West senator accused Ningi and Sumaila Kawu of misinforming Nigerians about the legal status of the 2024 budget, passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.
In a motion titled: “Urgent Need to Address the False Allegations Against the Senate and the Presidency on the 2024 Appropriation Act by Sen. Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central),” Adeola claimed that Ningi’s outburst had put a dent on the image of the Senate and tPresident Bola Tinubu. He also claimed that allowing the allegations to go unchallenged would give credence to them.
“The Northern senators, represented by Senator Ningi, apparently gave wrong and incomplete information to their ‘consultants’ for them to arrive at a national budget of N25 trillion, instead of the passed N28.77 trillion budget.
“If there were no ulterior motives by Senator Ningi and some aggrieved senators targeted at derailing the APC administration of President Bola Tinubu and creating bickering between the executive and the legislature, he would have sought for clarifications on the discrepancies noted by their consultants for more enlightenment on budgeting and parliamentary processes before rushing to the press with misinformation.
“It is also ridiculous for the Northern senators to allege that the 2024 budget was lopsided “against the North and some parts of the South” in the story. It would have been helpful if evidence of such lopsidedness against the run of passing a national budget is provided.
“The National Assembly passed a national budget targeted at national development in tandem with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework that was earlier passed by the parliament.
“The budget as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, including the Northern senators, is being implemented and any claim to the contrary is in the imagination of those who want to create national division for some ulterior motives yet to be ascertained,” Olamilekan said.
As soon as he rounded off, the Senate dissolved into the Committee of the Whole to debate and take an action on Olamilekan’s point of order.
Many senators in their contributions called for the head of Ningi and urged that severe sanctions be meted out to serve as a warning to lawmakers who may want to toe the same line.
While calling for fair hearing, former governor of Kebbi State, Adamu Aliero, urged senators to allow the accused, Ningi, to speak and defend himself.
Ningi, who was in the eye of the storm, compounded issues when he made further allegations. He also raised key posers on huge funds spent by the principal and presiding officers of the Senate, which was unknown to other lawmakers.
Ningi said in the current controversial 2024 budget, some senators got as high as N120 billion for constituency projects, while others like him got a meagre N2 billion.
He queried the unknown huge sums of Naira spent on the official vehicles of the Senate president and his Deputy, as well as other principal officers. He said until the details were made known to lawmakers, they would continue to speculate.
Unwilling to yield the floor, Ningi queried the number of aides hired by the two presiding officers and other principal officers of the upper legislative chamber.
He said Nigerians, including himself, were oblivious of the billions of Naira spent as salaries and allowances on aides to presiding and principal officers of the Senate.
He said: “I know what I’ve said and I stand by them. There are things being attributed to me which I didn’t say. But, there are more important questions we are yet to respond to. It is important that we address them here.
“As a senator, I don’t know how much the National Assembly spent on purchasing vehicles for the President of the Senate, Deputy President of the Senate, and other principal officers. We need to know.
“I know how much will be spent on my car, although I have not gotten any official car since I came to the Senate last year. But, we don’t know how much the presiding and principal officers spend on purchase of vehicles.
“As senator, I don’t know how much the National Assembly or the Senate spends on the salaries and other allowances of the aides to the President of the Senate, Deputy President of the Senate, and other principal officers. We’re just left to speculate.
“As we speak here, some senators got as high as N120 billion and some N100 billion for constituency projects in the 2024 budget. Someone like me got only N2 billion. Some senators got far less than that.”
In a similar tone, senator representing Cross River North, Agom Jarigbe, made another allegation. Jarigbe, who frowned at the unnecessary bickering, said some senators recently got N500 million each. He said others like him, despite being a ranking senator, got nothing. He said issues like that should also be addressed. “Let us wash our dirty linen in public. If we want to go into those issues, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, the so-called ‘senior senators’ got N500 million each. Despite the fact that I’m a ranking senator, I didn’t get any funds. Did I go to the press?”
His claims caused uproar and threw the chamber into crisis. Kawu, who was also in the eye of the storm, was prevented by his colleagues from getting physical with some of his colleagues.
For over 30 minutes, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, tried without success to restore order, while angry senators were held back from going physical.
Order was eventually restored, but was soon punctured by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, who insisted that Ningi must be suspended. He said his action and that of Northern senators was an attempted coup to remove Akpabio from office.
“What he did was tantamount to a coup using the platform of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF). We must never accept any apology from Senator Ningi. It is ridiculous to do so. He lied deliberately. Mr Senate President, you’re occupying that seat 40 years after a South South person occupied it. The last time a Southerner was there was during Obasanjo and they were being changed every time. It was only stable when it returned to the north. David Mark spent 8 years, Saraki completed his 4 years, Lawan spent his 4 years.
“Don’t be deceived, the losers of the June 2023 Senate president election are still angry. Some have accepted, but a few haven’t. They have plotted to remove you before June 2024. That is why you must not allow this deliberate mischief by Ningi to go away. He did it on purpose. He knew he was lying, he set the public against you, he will do it again. We must apply our sanction.”
Earlier, Akpabio had said “Ningi told me he had paid the consultant N30 million to conduct the investigation. Ningi called some of us for a meeting. When he told me this, I told him I would like to see the details.
“But, I didn’t receive it, but you had the opportunity to attend a BBC interview. It’s only you that has the document you have. I don’t have it.
“I want Nigerians to know that what President Tinubu presented to the National Assembly was N27.5 trillion, at no time did the President present N25 trillion. The integrity of this Chamber has been totally damaged,” he said.
While Ningi was suspended, Kawu got a soft landing, after being issued a stern warning for posting ‘false’ claims.
A few hours after the suspension, Senate Akpabio and the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin were at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Senator Akpabio did not talk to journalists after his meeting with President Tinubu but observers believed it was over the developments in the Senate that culminated in the suspension of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator over the comment credited to him that President Tinubu was implementing a different budget from what was presented to the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, Ningi has resigned as Chairman, Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF).
Ningi, in a letter addressed to the Secretary of NSF said his action was necessitated by the unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large.
“I will like to specially thank members of the forum for the opportunity given to me for the last eight months to spearhead this very important forum.
“I believe this forum is very important and fundamental to the progress and development of Northern Nigeria.”
•HURIWA kicks
The Human Rights Writers
Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has flayed the suspension of Senator Ningi.
Its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, described the move as a ‘coordinated cover-up.’
Onwubiko claimed that the suspension was hasty and would be interpreted as a negative sign that the National Assembly, which ought to be the bastion of civil democracy, is being turned into a secret society.
He said: “The Senate ought to have set up a committee to investigate the allegations and allow the members of the Nigerian public to follow up the process, so as to get to the very roots of it, with a view to ascertaining the veracity or otherwise of such an extensively damaging allegation.
“But, instead, the Senate used legislative blackmail, sledgehammer, and threats to shut up Senator Ningi, and we the people of Nigeria think that this is an attempt to hide the truth from us. This is unconstitutional and undemocratic.”