Bauchi Gov Backs Suspended Sen. Ningi for Saying the Truth on Alleged Budget Padding

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdukadir Mohammed says his administration and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remain the advocates of the suspended Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), pledging to support him.

The governor said he was with Ningi as the face of opposition in the Senate.

Ningi was on Tuesday handed a three-month suspension after his comment on the alleged extra N3.7 trillion hidden in the 2024 budget.

Governor Mohammed was speaking when he presided at the State Executive Council meeting held Wednesday where he asserted that dissent must be preserved in political society without a purge or search for heretics, stressing that they will support Senator Ningi for saying the truth in a quest to ensure check and balance in democracy .

While pledging to delve deeper into the issue, Mohammed described Senator Ningi as one of the best performing senators whose heritage and uprightness, ancestry and integrity are worthy of praise.

Governor Mohammed called on the relevant authorities to investigate the matter rather than suspending Ningi whom he described as a ranking Senator.

According to him, “We will, as the opposition to the the federal government, say some of the things that should be done in our modest opinion, but it is not for us to disparage our country. Yesterday, I was very sad. The senate suspending one of our best from Bauchi for saying the truth, for standing up to be the beacon of truth.

“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 the face of the opposition, especially if what he saying is the truth. I am not too quick to go to the media but, certainly, he has shown courage,” he said.

Recall that,Tuesday, on the floor of the Senate, Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West), had said the Red Chamber had inaugurated a template for the speedy consideration and passage of the 2024 Money Bill as he initiated the motion on breach of privilege by the Bauchi senator.

Senator Adeola had come under orders 9, 10, 41, and 51 to move a motion of privilege and issue of national importance against Ningi over his interview with the BBC Hausa.

Following Adeola’s motion on breach of privilege, 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.

But some of the senators moved for the amendment of the suspension for three months for the embattled federal lawmaker, which the senate ratified.