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March 12, 2024
Ningi, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Population, had alleged that the leadership of the Senate padded the 2024 budget by N3.7 trillion.
The Nigerian Senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi for three months over allegations of budget padding.
Ningi, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Population, had alleged that the leadership of the Senate padded the 2024 budget by N3.7 trillion.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Senate was thrown into a rowdy session over the allegation.
SaharaReporters had reported that Ningi, a Peoples Democratic Party member representing Bauchi Central, 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 had generated public outrage.
The Bauchi senator, however, maintained his position on Monday that N3.7 trillion could not be accounted for in the 2024 budget.
However, at the plenary on Tuesday, a commotion ensued after a senator raised an order that Senator Olamilekan Adeola presented the budget padding issue and needed no back and forth on it.
While the parties called for a probe into the allegation, some northern senators disowned the claims made by Ningi, saying the Bauchi State senator did not speak for them.
Adeola (APC, Ogun West) raised a motion that there was an urgent need to address the “false allegation” made by Ningi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations read the transcript of Ningi’s BBC Hausa interview on the floor of the House after Senate President, Godswill Akpabio called for a committee of the whole house.