A lawmaker has been slammed with a three-month suspension for exposing an alleged N3.7 trillion padding of the 2024 budget in the Nigerian Senate.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the suspension on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
A member of the Senate’s Appropriation Committee, Jimoh Ibrahim, initiated a motion for the suspension of Ningi for 12 months over allegations of criminal misinformation and breach of peace within the National Assembly and the country at large.
However, other lawmakers, such as Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong from Cross River South Senatorial District, and Senator Abdulfatai Buhari from Oyo North, proposed an amendment to Ibrahim’s motion. They prayed for the reduction of the suspension period to six and three months, respectively.
Akpabio, noting the seriousness of Ningi’s offenses, conducted a voice vote, during which most lawmakers supported Ningi’s suspension for three months.
In an interview, Ningi claimed that the Federal Government is operating two versions of the 2024 budget and that the N28.7 trillion budget passed and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu was skewed against the North.
“Example, we had a budget of N28 trillion but after our thorough checks, we found out that it was a budget of N25 trillion. How and where did we get the additional N3 trillion from, what are we spending it for?”
Following Ningi’s claims, many Senators and the Presidency criticized him, labeling his assertions as “far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status”.
Despite facing backlash, Ningi denied stating that the country operates on two budgets. However, he maintained that only N25 trillion of the budget was allocated to projects, while N3.7 trillion had no projects tied to it.
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