The Senate has taken the unprecedented step of suspending Abdul Ningi, the senator representing Bauchi Central, following his allegations that the 2024 budget was padded by a staggering N3 trillion.
Debated in accordance with the Senate’s standing order during Tuesday’s plenary, which lasted over three hours, the upper legislative chamber suspended the lawmaker after a motion on privilege was moved by Solomon Adeola, the senator representing Ogun West.
Ningi sparked widespread discourse over the weekend when he asserted that the budget had caused “huge damage” to the North and the entire country.
For the 2024 fiscal year, the National Assembly had passed a budget of N28.7 trillion, a significant increase from President Bola Tinubu’s proposed N27.5 trillion, with an added N1.2 trillion.
During the motion, Adeola argued that his privilege was breached due to his involvement in the budget preparation process.
“My privilege has been breached because I was one of those who participated in the preparation of the budget. With what has transpired in the last three days, my privilege has been breached,” Adeola stated.
Adeola further presented evidence, including a full transcript and a notarized audio recording of an interview given by Ningi to BBC Hausa, to support his claims.
Despite Ningi’s attempt to defend himself by claiming to have supporting documents, the majority of the senators sought his punishment.
Opeyemi Bamidele, the Majority Leader of the Senate, denounced Ningi’s actions as an attempted “coup” against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, accusing him of leveraging the Northern Senators Forum platform for subversion.
“What he did was tantamount to a coup using the platform of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF),” Bamidele stated.
TheCable had previously reported on Ningi’s risk of suspension over his incendiary allegations.
