The Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF, was hasty in accusing the Senate President Godswill Akpabio on 2024 budget padding.
Senator Abdul Ningi, chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, rushed to the press to blame the senate president when consultation should be the first thing to have been done.
The Special Assistant to the Senate President on NGOs and Diaspora Dr. Jibril Lawal Tafida countered the Northern Senators Forum for not contacting the senate president before their media outburst to clear the air.
Dr. Tafida expressed dismay on the attitude of the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum for not following the due process of verification when there are some people to contact before accusing the senate President.
However, it was reported that one of the senators in forum quoted the senate president as saying that the projects complained about were probably inserted into the budget by unknown persons while he (senate president) was hospitalised during the budgetary process.
The senate president also explained that the padding may have happened when he was hospitalised.
Surely, there was a time the senate president was hospitalised and the committee on appropriation, of which a member of the Northern Senators Forum is vice chairman, is responsible for the budget expenditure allocation.
To find for a solution, the Northern Senators Forum should have contacted Senator Ali Ndume the vice chairman of the Senator Solomon Adeola of Appropriation Committee before the media onslaught on baseless accusation.
Like what Dr. Tafida said, there are many ways to resolve the problem of the senate affairs by not putting blames on others and making public outrage when northerners are faced with insecurity problem.
What the Northern Senators Forum did will put a dent on the Forum rather than questions on interest in the press conference because they have a vice chairman of the Appropriation Committee who is a strong pillar in the chamber.
As the senate and the presidency iare working hard to free the abducted students from kidnappers’ den, the senators should stop distracting the senate and the presidency on things that can be resolved amicable without personal attacks and tarnishing the image of senators.
While the senate president assured the senators that they investigate the padding, the Northern Senators Forum should continue to work towards relieving northerners of the security problems suffocating the region.
Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim, a political analyst, writes from Kaduna via [email protected]
