Ningi’s Suspension Causes More Anger as Bauchi Governor Stands by Senator, Faults Action

 •BudgIT confirms alleged N3.7trn padding 

•Obi: Senate’s verdict yet to address allegation

•Embattled lawmaker can challenge action in court, says Suswam

•PDP advises Akpabio to step aside over devt 

•TI, CISLAC worry over oppositions’ rights

Chuks Okocha, Kasim Sumaina in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Anger over the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi by the senate continued to spread yesterday, as the governor of his native Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, declared that the state government was behind the senator.

Mohammed, who spoke during the State Executive Council meeting at Government House, Bauchi, also faulted the decision of the senate to suspend Ningi for three months.

But in an interesting turn of events, a civic organisation focused on the Nigerian budget and public data, BudgIT, confirmed the N3.7 trillion gap in the 2024 budget presented to the National Assembly.

Similarly, the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, said Ningi’s suspension had not addressed vital issues in the allegation of senate’s padding of the 2024 budget raised by the lawmaker.

Former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, yesterday, said Ningi could challenge his suspension from the senate in court.

But Ningi’s party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asked the senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to step aside and allow for an independent investigation into the budget padding allegation.

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria) expressed worry over the “undemocratic action and questionable decision” of the senate leadership against Ningi.

Speaking at the council meeting, Mohammed said, “Yesterday, I was very sad the senate suspended one of our best from Bauchi for saying the truth, for standing up to be the beacon of the truth.”

The governor, who is also the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, said, “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 is saying is the truth.”

BudgIT Confirms Alleged N3.7trn Padding

The director and co-founder of BudgIT, Seun Onigbinde, in an interview with Channels Television, yesterday, said Ningi was right if he stated that there was no detailed allocation for N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget and that two versions of the 2024 budget were passed at the National Assembly.

The BudgIT boss said there were “statutory elements” in the budget that did not have comprehensive analysis.

Onigbinde said the allocations to the National Assembly, National Judicial Council (NJC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and others did not carry detailed breakdowns.

He added that citizens had the right to know how the funds earmarked for the aforementioned agencies were being spent.

Onigbinde stated, “Around N2 trillion of the budget presented by the president is the government-owned enterprises budget. So, if Senator Ningi says there is a N25 trillion budget, yes, that is the MDA’s budget. It’s different from the government-owned enterprises budget, which was now added.

“It is factual that he said that but it doesn’t mean that we are running two concurrent budgets. There is a different conversation that those projects should be detailed. TETFUND should not just get an allocation.

“What are you spending the money on? INEC is collecting a huge chunk of funds but there is no public details about what the funds are used for. The same thing with NJC, even the National Assembly.

“In the current budget, the National Assembly gave a very broad summary of its allocations but there are no detailed allocations on a granular level that everybody can interrogate.

“These are transparency issues and if you put all these together, that is around N3.5 trillion to N3.7 trillion. So, if that is what he (Ningi) wants to interrogate, there are components of the budget where there is no breakdown. That is very factual.”

The BudgIT leader added, “But the National Assembly needs to push back. We need a breakdown. What is NJC spending money on? We give more money to the NJC and say take it arbitrarily. What are they spending that money on?

“There should be a detailed breakdown to the public. On that point, Senator Ningi is right, but to look as if we are running parallel budgets, that is not right.”

Obi: Ningi’s Suspension Hasn’t Addressed Vital Allegations

Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, said the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi by the senate had not addressed the vital issues in the allegation he raised.

 Obi stated this in a statement via his X handle yesterday. He said the fuss over the alleged N3 trillion padded into the 2024 budget still raged as the senate’s reaction of suspending the whistle-blower had not addressed vital issues emanating from the allegation.

He said, “The senator is insisting on his allegation, and the executive agreed that there was only N1.2 trillion padded, not N3 trillion, as alleged by the senator. Fresh allegations have also cropped up over the indiscriminate and unbalanced allocation of constituency projects by the senate leadership.

 “A civic society group, Budgit, through their officials, has also added their voice to agree with the senator. They allege that there were no detailed project allocations for about N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Appropriation Act.

 “As the senate suspension of the senator involved has not addressed the issue, they still owe the Nigerian public a clear clarification over the various claims and counterclaims, including that of the executive arm, to be able to know exactly what is happening, and also disclose to the public, the exact amounts allocated for constituency projects for appropriate monitoring of implementation by the public.

 “I had particularly elucidated in my earlier comment on what we can use the N3 trillion to achieve, by showing that it is more than the national budget of the two most critical components of the human development index, health and education, combined.

 “Now that the executive arm has accepted that the padded amount is only N1.2 trillion, it is still a very significant amount, when you consider that it is almost five times the N251.47 billion proposed for Universal Basic Education, which is the foundation of education, in the country.

“Today, in Nigeria, the greatest challenge to human resource development is education, which has been identified as most critical at the basic level.”

 The LP leader said Nigeria had about 20 million out-of-school children today because of the poor investment in education. He said those were resources that could have been utilised to ensure that the Nigerian children were taken off the streets and returned to school.

Obi said the N1.2 trillion, which the executive admitted to have been padded, if channelled into any of the critical areas of development, could have positively impacted the nation and uplifted the people.

According to him, “And if, indeed, the report from Budgit is true, that there is about N3.7 trillion without any detailed project allocations, I strongly urge the senate to do more detailed work of channelling these funds into the critical areas of development — education, health and pulling people out of poverty, which will in turn, minimise the criminality we are facing today.

“We must, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to all the wastage of our scarce resources, amid the excruciating hardship in the country. Let every penny of our public funds be used for public good. That is the only way to achieve the new Nigeria we are working towards.”

Suswam: Ningi Can Challenge Length of Suspension in Court

Former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, yesterday, said Senator Abdul Ningi could challenge the length of his suspension from the senate in court.

Suswam added that some senators were “agitated” because some of their colleagues got more funds for constituency projects in the 2024 budget.

Speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, Suswam said the recent controversy in the senate was due to constituency projects and budget padding. He said the allegation of budget padding by Ningi was a “misuse of words” and the claim constituted a “serious offence”.

Suswam added that Ningi might win in court if he challenged the decision of the senate to suspend him.

He stated, “I think the issue has always been that the leadership of the National Assembly – the senate and House of Representatives – would normally take the lion’s share of the constituency projects.

“That has always been an issue that agitates the minds of most senators. I think that is what Senator Ningi was talking about. It is just a misuse of words.

“Instead of him to accuse the leadership of enhancing their constituency projects above other members of the senate, he rather said the budget was padded.

“When you say the budget was padded, it constitutes a very serious offence. I don’t think that was what he meant.”

Suswam frowned on the duration of Ningi’s suspension.  

He said, “I think a three-month suspension is way out of order. I don’t think the rules allow the senate to suspend any member for that length of time.

“If he decides to take that up legally, I don’t think the senate will win in that case. The rules provide copiously the number of days a senator could be suspended when he breaches the rule.

“I don’t think what has happened in the senate is budget padding; it is just that some members have taken well over others. A lot of senators are agitated about it.”

Step Aside, PDP Tells Akpabio

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, stated that the senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio, should step aside and allow for an independent investigation into the allegation that N3.7 trillion was discreetly inserted into the 2024 budget for alleged non-existent projects.

The party also demanded that Akpabio should report at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the pending case of alleged looting of N108 billion belonging to the people of Akwa Ibom State under his watch as governor of the state.

In a statement by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the party also said the senate president should speak out on the reported N86 billion contract scam in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) during his tenure as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

PDP condemned Ningi’s suspension by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the senate without a detailed inquest into the issue of budget padding, which he raised.

“The suspension of Senator Ningi is apparently a desperate move to suppress investigation, conceal and sweep the facts under the carpet,” Ologunagba said.

PDP added, “The frustration of investigation by the APC senate leadership further confirms PDP’s repeated alert that prominent APC officials in the National Assembly and a top official in the presidency have been using ministers and other government functionaries to siphon budgeted funds from the national coffers.

“We ask, why did the APC leadership in the senate not refer the matter to the appropriate senate standing committee for an open investigation in line with the extant rules of the senate? What is the APC senate leadership afraid of and what is it hiding from Nigerians?”

The PDP spokesperson also said, “It is even more absurd that instead of recusing himself, the senate president sat as a judge in the matter; a situation that has the capacity to bring the institution of the senate to further public disrepute.

“This is especially as the issues at hand heavily border on alleged gross misconduct and criminal betrayal of public trust, which are serious offenses under our laws.

“Nigerians can now see why the APC leadership in the National Assembly, especially in the senate, continues to condone the unbridled looting of public resources, including funds meant for palliatives for poor and vulnerable citizens.”

TI, CISLAC Worry over Oppositions’ Rights

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria) said it was perturbed by the “undemocratic action and questionable decision” by the senate leadership in the recent suspension of Ningi.

It said the suspension was initiated against Ningi for expressing his constitutionally guaranteed concerns and observations on the 2024 budget at a critical moment, when the nation was deeply soaked in socio-economic and financial crisis.

The group said the suspension was not unconnected with the public exposure of the N3 trillion padded into the 2024 budget by the upper chamber, which had hitherto failed to display transparency and public accountability in its annual budgetary allocation and spending. This included the inequality and disproportionate marginalisation surrounding the distributions of the N3 trillion, where each senator was expected to receive N500 million as constituency allowance.

Executive Director of CISLAC/TI-Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), in a statement personally signed yesterday, stated, “We recognise and affirm that freedom of expression and opinion remains sacrosanct to preserve the democratic culture, values and principles in Nigeria.

“We, without hesitation, uphold our position that freedom of opinion and expression is a constitutional and legally-backed right under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria; Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; Article 19 (2) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966; hence, the sanity and sanctity of these provisions must be strictly adhered, demonstrated and protected by a civic institution, such as National Assembly.

“Anything outside these provisions is tantamount to deliberate violation of human right and apparent disregard to the rule of law.”

Rafsanjani added, “We must reiterate that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a supreme law of the country, gives zero provision or power to the senate to suspend a member of the National Assembly.

“Such provisions are only found in the Ethics and Privileges Committee laws, which is answerable to the plenary through the senate president. On this note, the committee’s laws cannot override the constitution, most especially in a matter of freedom of expression, which is a fundamental right.”