Breaking News; Senate Suspends Ningi For Three Months Over N3.7trn Budget Padding Claims
Comment
There’s been a rumor in Nigerian politics that the Senate has taken a strong step against Senator Ningi. They’ve decided to suspend him for three months, following his N3.7trn Budget Padding Claims.
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For better insight in this article, Budget padding is when extra money is secretly added for unnecessary things without your knowledge. So, in politics, it’s adding extra cash into the budget for things that weren’t agreed upon.
Ningi is a member of the Senate, which comprises a group of people who make important decisions for the country. He represents a specific area and is supposed to look out for their interests however he got into hot water because he accused the Senate of padding the 2024 National Budget with N3.7trn.
The decision to suspend him was reached during a session on Tuesday by the red chamber on a motion by the Chairman, of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola.
The Senate has however warned Senator Suleiman Kawu (NNPP, Kano South) against sharing and distributing disturbing news about the Senate on social media and demanded an apology from him.
Senator Olamilekan 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 British Broadcasting Corporation ( Hausa Service).
A member of the Appropriation Committee representing Ondo South Senatorial District named Senator Jimoh Ibrahim instigated the motion for Ningi’s suspension. He mentioned the need to address misinformation and breaches of peace within the National Assembly and the country at large.
Being suspended means Ningi can’t go to Senate meetings or do any senator stuff for three months.
The statement made by Ningi was “For the first time in Nigerian history, today we are operating two different budgets. One budget was approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu and the one was implemented by the presidency.
“The one approved by us is ₦25tn while the one operating by the Federal Government is ₦28tn.
“We discovered ₦3tn was inserted into the budget for projects without locations. This is the highest budget padding that happened in Nigerian history under Senator Akpabio’s watch.”
All attempts by some ranking senators to conquer Ningi to apologize did not succeed.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who governed 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 wrote an apology letter to the Senate
