Federal lawmaker representing Cross River North , Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, has said that some senior senators received a total of N500 million each from the 2024 budget.
Jarigbe made this disclosure during a plenary session on Tuesday in the Red Chamber in Abuja.
This revelation is coming on the heels of the ongoing controversy of allegations of budget padding made by Senator Abdul Ningi in an interview with BBC Hausa.
Ningi had earlier accused the Senate of paddling the 2024 budget, saying the National Assembly added an extra N3.7 billion to the initial budget.
Reacting to the development, the Cross River lawmaker said all senators are guilty of such practice, alleging that some senior senators received N500 million each from the 2024 appropriation bill.
“If we want to go into this issue, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, so called senior senators got N500 million each. I am a ranking senator. I didn’t get it. Did I go to the press? We don’t have to go into those issues,” he said.
READ ALSO: Senators Adeola, Ningi bicker over 2024 budget padding allegation
Meanwhile, the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, had the senator’s mic muted amid his speech.
Earlier, the lawmaker presenting Bauchi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Abdul Ningi, had accused the Senate of budget padding.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Ningi reportedly indicted the National Assembly for padding the 2024 budget with a whooping sum of 3 trillion.
Meanwhile on the Senate floor on Tuesday, the senator denied saying he made any allegations against the president.
Ningi said he never said that the president was running two budgets but that there was N3.7 trillion yet to be accounted for.
“Let me concur with 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.