…. As Yarigbe accuses ranking Senators of receiving N500m


Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele Tuesday raised alarm over a plot to unseat the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the leadership of the 10th Senate from office before the expiration of their four year Tenure.



The Ekiti Central Senator made the allegations during Tuesday’s plenary in which Bauchi Central Senator, Abdul Ningi bagged a Three Month suspension from office for allegedly saying that the Senate padded the budget of N3 trillion in the N28.7 trillion 2024 Appropriation Act and that the budget passed by the National Assembly for 2024 fiscal year is N25 trillion while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7 trillion.



Opeyemi made the comments following a motion by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, APC, Ogun West under Senate orders 9, 10, 41, and 5 on the need to address the allegations raised by Ningi.



In his submission, Opeyemi described Ningi’s actions as a “civilian coup plot” adding that the Bauchi Central Lawmaker attempts to ride on the heels of the Northern Senators Forum by using his position as the Chairman of the group to achieve his ambition.



Urging the Senate President to be on alert, Opeyemi pointed out that some Senators who lost out in the leadership tussle that produced the 10th Senate leadership led by Akapbio are still aggrieved and hell bent on ousting them from office.



Calling on his colleagues to take disciplinary measures on Ningi , Opeyemi told those involved to put a stop to such antics saying that the Southern led Senate President must be allowed to lead in peace just as the previous Northern Senate Presidents were allowed to lead in peace.



He said; “ What Ningi said or planned to do , is tantamount to a civilian coup and planned to use the Northern Senators Forum. 63 Senators voted for Akpabio and 46 against him, It is not about North and South, it’s about the people. A few people who felt they won’t give you more than one year on that chair are doing everything possible to remove you”



“Why are all these controversies always about Akpabio? A few people want to do everything possible to remove you (Akpabio) from that seat. The last time the South South had the chance to be Senate President was over 40 years ago.



“Senators Ahmad Lawan and David Mark had peaceful tenures as Senate President. Even Senator Bukola Saraki with all he did served out his tenure.



“Why are these controversies all about Akpabio? Senator Ningi wants to use the name of the Northern Senators Forum against Akpabio.”



On the statement made by Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe (PDP, Cross-River North) that ranking senators got the sum of N500m, Opeyemi concured but however stated that the funds were meant for constituency projects and is unapologetic about it.



Earlier in his lead debate, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Solomon dismissed the allegations made by Ningi.



According to him the committee on Appropriation submitted its harmonized budget report was submitted and passed on Saturday 30th December, 2023 a Budget of N28.77 Trillion and was assented by the President C in C on the 1st January, 2024.



On the allegations of the budget increase Solomon explained that an additional increase of N1.2 Trillion was what was presented by the President who came during the appropriation process through additional funding requests.



He clarified that some items of expenditure to the committee that were not included in the bill as submitted by the President because they are on the first line charge and were meant to address additional funding for the Judiciary, Agriculture and Food Security, Works, Science and Technology, Education, Water Resources, National Assembly, Health and National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.



Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) urged the Senate to give room for Senator Ningi to defend himself citing section 36(2a) of the Senate rule book. He said; “I come under this order because fair hearing is a fundamental human right in our constitution. It is right to give him a chance to defend himself”.



Defending himself, Ningi stood his ground, however he stated that only 80 percent of his statements were true. Addressing his colleagues, Ningi debunked the statement allegedly signed by him in which the Lawmaker was alleged to have said the Senate and the Federal Government were operating two separate budgets of ₦25tn and ₦28tn respectively.



Ningi also absolved himself from the statement which accused him of saying that President Tinubu dislikes the North. Armed with documents to back his claims Ningi restated his earlier statement that the budgetary allocations to Senatorial Districts were lop-sided.



“I rushed to the assembly and countered what was said with documented evidence. Mr President, if you and your agents had listened to the interview I said categorically that the President’s powers stop as he proposed the budget.



“I said there is no way the National Assembly will add anything on the budget and it becomes padding. We discovered humongous repetitions and anomalies. We discovered some Senatorial Districts have N120bn and my Senatorial District has only N1.2bn. In this budget that Senator Yayi presented to you I have facts constituency by constituency some have 120 Billion.



“Mr President As I speak to you I don’t know your take home pay or that of the Principal officers. You made provisions for cars but I don’t know how spent on the purchase of your cars and that of the Principal officers.



In his response Akpabio admitted that Ningi and some Northern Senators had previously met over the matter concerning lopsided allocations; he however faulted Ningi for going to the press to discuss the matter.



According to Akpabio , Ningi told the Senators who attended the meeting that he had already paid 30 Million naira to some consultants to come up with facts on the skewed budgetary allocations. Akapbio noted that he told Ningi to meet with him whenever his facts are ready, adding that he promised the Bauchi Central Lawmaker that he would address the matter.



The Senate President said; “And if there is any addition to the Budget, it is to the sum of 1.2 trillion and the mover of the motion has given us the break down of where the additions went to and also for me that you are saying that you don’t know how many Aides the Senate and Deputy President have that it’s in the budget. We have nor seen anywhere in the budget where the Aides of the President and the Senate President are listed out.



“This is not the speech that I expected, I was expecting a speech where you will say that you were misquoted and apologise but you went back to Arise Television and justified your position that you have documents and that those documents are with you but no single Senator here knows or Nigerians but at the same time Nigerians are bashing the Senate. The integrity of this Senate has been badly damaged and we expect you to repair it with your speech but instead of that you said you have more documents to prove what you are saying.



Blaming Ningi for bringing the matter to the public domain through the media Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe (PDP, Cross-River North) revealed that all ranking senators got the sum of N500m.



Jarigbe stated that the missing N3.7tn, as alleged by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), had been clarified under the Government Owned Enterprises and first line charge.



He said, “I thought this issue should have ended when the chairman of Committee on Appropriation, explained that the N3.7tn were under GOEs and the first line charge.



“That explains everything but if we want to express our grouse, I also have mine and we are all culpable. After all, all the ranking senators got N500m each. I am a ranking senator and I didn’t get it.”



On his part Senator Sani Musa said that Ningi erred by going to the media. The Chairman Senate Committee on Finance stated that despite being a ranking Senator from the North, Senator Ningi never carried him along on the issues concerning the Northern Senators Forum.



However Sani Musa also blamed the hurried state in which the 2024 budget was passed as the root cause of all the issues raised by Ningi during the BBC interview (Hausa).

He said; “I am disappointed not only in the way and manners we present ourselves to national discourse.

“The 2024 budget came on the 30th of Nov 2023, and we had only one month to look at it. If I will go by parliamentary standards we have the right to decide when to pass our budget.

“On what parameters did we pass those budgets, did we sit and decide as a Senate on those parameters , if anyone comes to say that this budget is at default that means all of us are at default.



“I have been maligned as a Senator and I was told that I was given an allocation of 55 billion as a project and that video in Tick Tock as we speak.



“If anyone said he has seen anything, provide the evidence and it should be given to the Senate President, not the press. We should have acted like Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We must deal with our ethical standards at the Senate.



Shortly after returning from its rowdy session Senator Jimoh Ibrahim moved an amended motion for the suspension of Ningi for 12 months while adding that Senator Sumaila Kawu (Kano South, NNPP) be warned.



Senator Chris Ekpeyong (Akwa-Ibom North-West, PDP) opposed this by moving a motion of amendment that the suspension be reduced to six months, and it was seconded.



Another senator, Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South), however, made further amendment, asking that Ningi be suspended for three months.



However, Senator Sani Musa (Niger East) while seconding the motion made an amendment and appealed that the suspension be reduced to three Months only.



After putting the amended motion to a voice vote, Akpabio ruled, “Senator Ningi is hereby suspended from the Senate for a period of three months”. The Senate also resolved that if Senator Ningi writes to apologize during the period, he shall be recalled to resume his legislative activities.



Another Senator who escaped suspension was Senator Suleiman Kawu (NNPP, Kano South), a member of the Northern Senators Forum who was accused of posting the audio copy of the interview and translated copy of the Ningi’s interview Senators WhatsApp platform.



Kawu in his defense disassociated himself saying that he only made the post on the platform to bring the attention of the Lawmakers to the trending news not to spread fake news as alleged by Senator Olamilekan. Kawu was subsequently asked by the Senators to tender a letter of apology to the Senate.



Pleas by some Senators to refer the matter to the Senate Committee on Ethics and privileges were shunned, immediately after the pronouncement was made, Ningi was led out of the floor of the Senate by one of the Sergeants-at-arms.





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