Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District has resigned from his position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum following his three-month suspension at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Senator Ningi had raised alarm over a padded figure of the 2024 budget during a BBC Hausa Service interview during the weekend.
The lawmaker told the BBC that the N25trn budget was debated and passed, not the N28.7trn that is currently being implemented.
“Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.
“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.
“For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28tn but what was passed was N25 trillion. So there is N3tn on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things.”
Senator Ningi who resolved to bring it to the attention of President Bola Tinubu later this week but suspended during the Tuesday plenary session denied making such claims of President Tinubu running two budgets but that there was N3.7 trillion yet to be accounted for.
“Let me concur to about 80% of the translation read out by Senator Yayi. I think they have done a fair job, except on some issues they could not understand.
The beginning of this brouhaha started with this text. Senator Abdu Ningi is purported to be the author of this document. Let me for the avoidance of doubt, I have never issued a statement of this nature to anybody anywhere and anytime.
I want members of this Senate to record it, this is a fake observation that was forwarded, I do not know the author of this,” he said.
Confirming the budget padding claim, a lawmaker representing Cross River North, Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, said some senior senators received a total of N500 million each from the 2024 budget.
“All of us are culpable. Some so called Senior Senators here got 500M Naira each from the 2024 Budget, I am a ranking Senator and I didn’t get anything. No Senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi.”
