Following the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi, the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, on Wednesday said the upper chamber is having some credibility problems. Ningi had in an interview with BBC Hausa alleged that the Senate padded the 2024 budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion. He also 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.
The situation forced the Red Chamber under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday to suspend Senator Abdul Ningi. A day after the incident, Senator Moro who represents Benue South in the National Assembly, said the situation has made the upper chamber face an integrity test. “The budget in question was passed by the senators. Senator Ningi is a senator, he was a member of the Appropriation Committee. I am from the north and he purported to speak for the north,” he said.
“Why I was angry is that Senator Kawu Sumaila who is the spokesperson of the Northern Senators Forum came before me and said that he was going to address the press on this same matter while the debate was going on. “I said, ‘You don’t do that. You raised issues, we are tackling the issues and here you are, you want to address the press, go ahead and address the press.’ That was why I raised my hands because as a minority leader, Senator Kawu Sumaila is a member of the NNPP, he is within me and signed for me to be a minority leader.
