Just in: Senate suspends Ningi over N3.7 trillion Budget Padding claim

The Senate on Tuesday has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi, over the remark that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget with a swooping N3.7 trillion which is not traceable to any project.

The motion which was brought forward by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim was also seconded by other senators during a plenary session in the Red Chamber.

According to Senator Ibrahim, the claim by Ningi was not backed with any threshold of evidence, thus violating the ethics and values of the Red Chamber.

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The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, therefore agreed to the resolution that Senator Ningi be suspended for three months.

It would be recalled that The BBC Hausa service on Saturday had, in a report, quoted Senator Ningi, the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, as alleging that the Federal Government was operating an N28tn budget, contrary to the N25tn passed by the National Assembly.

Senator Ningi had said in the report, “Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.”