The Senate on Tuesday suspended Senator Abdul Ningi, over the remark that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget with a swooping N3.7 trillion which is not traceable to any project.
The motion which was brought forward by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim was also seconded by other senators during a plenary session in the Red Chamber.
According to Senator Ibrahim, the claim by Ningi was not backed by any threshold of evidence, thus violating the ethics and values of the Red Chamber.
The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, therefore agreed to the resolution that Senator Ningi be suspended for three months.
What you should know
Earlier, a PDP federal lawmaker representing Bauchi Central, Senator Abdul Ningi, last week raised the alarm that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the presidency padded the budget currently implemented against the budget passed by the chamber.
The allegation generated public outrage
On Monday, the senator from Bauchi insisted that there is an unaccounted sum of N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget, standing firm on his position.
While there were calls for an investigation into the allegations, some senators from the north distanced themselves from Ningi’s claims, stating that the senator from Bauchi State was not representing their views.
Moreover, 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 and the country by extension.
However, other lawmakers like Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong moved for the amendment of the motion by Ibrahim. Ekpenyong, who is from Cross River South Senatorial District; and Senator Abdulfatai Buhari from Oyo North prayed for the reduction of the suspension to six and three months respectively.
Akpabio, who described Ningi’s offenses as “grievous”, conducted a voice vote during which most of the lawmakers voted in support of Ningi’s suspension for three months.