A civil society organisation, Arewa Defence League, has alleged that the Senate leadership was acting an anti- North script in the recent suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi.
Addressing a press conference at Arewa House Kaduna on Monday, the league said Senator Abdul Ahmed Ning, Bauchi central, Bauchi state, is not new to politics. “He was member, House of Representatives in 1999, where he rose to become the House Leader. He moved to the Senate and also rose to be Senate Leader. So, the art and act of budget process is something he must have mastered”, they said.
President of the league, Murtala Abubakar, said budget padding is not new to our system.as the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua once raised same eyebrows about 2018 budget and almost threatened not to sign it. “So, Senator Ningi did nothing new or wrong .
“BudgiT did not only vindicate Senator Ningi but gave a breakdown of finances of over N3 trillion in the passed and signed 2024 budget that have no outlined projects or programmes.
“While the suspension of Ningi may be viewed as internal issues of the National Assembly, the pronouncements of senators like Opeyemi Bamidele who tried to ethno-regionalise the issue by setting the North against the South, and Jimoh Ibrahim, a first time senator, leave much to be desired.”
The organisation alleged that the silence of other northern senators which seems to be a consent showed that they all have been compromised.
“With all the woes of insecurity, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, among several setbacks that Northern Nigeria experiences today, the Northern Senators Forum, NSF, should have been more concerned about a lopsided budget and use their number to influence more for the region.
“As baffled as we are by these revelations, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, like late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and former President Muhammadu Buhari speak out and distance himself from the senate insertions and budget padding.
“Northern senators should also man-up by living up to the expectations of their constituents who are today IDPs in their own homes, daily facing more economic challenges and unprecedented insecurity that most can’t even venture to their farms and children afraid to go to school for fear of being kidnapped.
“If we fail to act fast, the suspension of Abdul Ahmed Ningi may be a kite flying to test the ground for more grievous acts against the majority of Nigerians which may spell doom for Nigeria”, the league alleged.
