Senate Suspends Ningi for Three Months over N3.7trn Budget Padding Allegation

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate at plenary on Tuesday, slammed a three-month suspension on the Peoples Democratic Party Senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Senator Abdul Ningi, for accusing the Senate of padding the 2023 National Budget with N3.7trn.

The decision was taken following an extensive deliberation by the red chamber on a motion by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola.

Adeola in his motion had drawn the attention of his colleagues to an interview granted by Ningi in the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) where he said a team of financial experts hired by the Northern Senators Forum, had discovered that N3.7trn in the budget could not be traced to any project neither was the location indicated.

The Appropriation Committee Chairman reeled out details of the N3.7trn that Ningi claimed was padded.

He explained that the amount was statutory transfers to some arms and agencies of government as first line charge which does not require details.

Temper rose during the deliberations on the motion with some fresh revelations about how some senior senators got N500m allocation from the budget.

All attempts by some ranking senators to prevail on Ningi to apologise did not succeed.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the plenary, subsequently ruled on the prayers contained in Adeola’s motion and the senators voted in support of Ningi’s suspension for three months.

They, however, said he could be recalled if he writes an apology letter to the Senate

Details later…..