The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Senate

  • Divide and rule in senate

    Divide and rule in senate

    The senate has become a laboratory for divide and rule tactics. While the House of Representatives which passed the same 2024 national budget that the senate passed is enjoying tranquillity, the senate almost boiled over last week over the passage of that same budget. Of course, this column will not hold brief for either arm of the National Assembly which over the years passes perhaps the opaquest budget any country that claims to be practicing democracy, can pass.   

    But the fact is that the hullaballoo about padded budget is merely a subterfuge because every year the National Assembly determines what goes into the national budget, regardless of the protestations of the executive. And more so, Senator Abdul Ningi, who raised the alarm has recanted the claim, knowing that what himself and his colleagues engaged in this year, is not different from the mishmash of cutting and pasting, which the National Assembly has done over the years. He knows also that over the years, members of the National Assembly add some shameful subheads to the budget in the name of constituency project.

    So, nothing is different, except that the forces he represents are not comfortable with the leadership of the National Assembly residing in the south, just like the executive. The forces merely used the northern senators’ forum as a springboard to divide the senate, with budget-padding as the catalyst. Interestingly, the Northern Senators’ Forum is an amalgamation of senators from different political parties, and if he had succeeded in pooling the wool over the eyes of other senators, the group could have been working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is presently a minority in the senate, or other interests.  

    As espoused by political philosophers, divide and rule is a tactics used by a dominant power to maintain dominance over those it has control or wishes to have control over. It is used in politics, military and foreign policy to achieve the same purpose. In politics, the sovereign can use it to maintain control over the subjects, by promoting some over others, and engendering enmity and unbridled competition within the subjects. 

    Similar tactics can also be used in the military, to create doubts in the mind of the enemy over the loyalty of the commanders. The tactics through propaganda can also be employed in foreign policy, to weaken a military alliance, and gain advantage. The tactics of divide and rule has been used from time immemorial to gain advantage over opponents. For example, during the Nigerian-Biafra civil war, Gen. Gowon created 12 states out of the Eastern Region, to turn the minorities against the separatist agenda of Biafra.   

    Within the National Assembly, since 1999, the senate appears to be the laboratory for the practice of divide and rule, each time a southerner is elected as the senate president. The tactics was most effective in the senate, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoned the senate presidency to the southeast. Within eight years, the senate had a turnover of five presidents. The power fingered for that irregular turnover of senate presidents was President Olusegun Obasanjo, who allegedly was seeking for a senate president he could manipulate.

    But since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu supported the emergence Godswill Akpabio, which power is seeking to divide the senate, so Akpabio can be removed or weakened in the performance of his duties? There are various pointers: Hausa-Fulani oligarchic power, which wishes to regain the leadership of the National Assembly. The sympathizers of PDP, who are in All Progressives Congress (APC), teaming up with the members of the PDP. Or a coalition of various groups teaming up with those who lost out in the elections, to Akpabio, and even to PBAT, during the presidential election.

    As should be evident to senators (1999-2007), especially those from the southeast, who acquiesced to the incessant changes in the senate during the Obasanjo era, they were mere pawns in the hands of forces bent on dominating them. Employing divide and rule tactics, the forces were able to keep them in disarray and ensured that they were unable to exercise the enormous constitutional powers granted them by the 1999 constitution. Until they bonded and starred back at Obasanjo, they remained a pawn in President Obasanjo’s hand.

    The 10th senate is in similar quandary, even though the forces at play are different. While not holding brief for Akpabio, it is strange that while some people wanted to set the senate on the boil, the other arm of the National Assembly which passed the same budget was cool. I don’t believe that members of the House of Representatives would be smiling, if their colleagues in the senate took them for a ride, by padding the budget for their own benefit while they were left out.

    That is not the character of the National Assembly that Nigerians are carrying on their back since 1999. The two arms of the National Assembly operate on a quid pro quo basis, and nothing appears to have changed. Perhaps, the leadership of the southern senators have realized the power of unity, prompting their revitalization of the southern senators’ forum, as a counter foil to the northern senators’ forum, which Senator Ningi, tried to use to achieve his political agenda.

    Read Also: Senate condemns killing of Army personnel in Delta state

    Most likely, the forces around Akpabio, employed similar tactics of divide and rule to get the northern senators to renounce their leader, one after another, which eventually led to his capitulation. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Senator Ningi, after his suspension for three months, also resigned his leadership of the Northern Senators’ Forum. Having failed in the ultimate plan, to destabilize the senate, and perhaps force a change in leadership, Senator Ningi has been recanting his assertion about the claims on the 2024 budget.

    He denied that he ever claimed there are two budgets, one made up of N25 trillion, and another N28 trillion. He denied alleging that the senators padded the budget, as if the national budget is a product of the senate alone. In solidarity, his collaborators in the senate are all owing up to benefiting from the constituency projects running into hundreds of millions, information they have always shied away from giving out.

    There is no doubt that the National Assembly members have minimal interest in the affairs of the down-trodden masses. A firm proof is the unlawful budgetary allocation they enjoy, in flagrant disobedience to the provision of the Third Schedule, Part N, of the 1999 constitution (as amended), which gifts the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the power to determine senators’ salaries and emoluments.

    Unfortunately, the power tussle in the senate has nothing to do with that abuse of the constitution. Obviously, Ningi, was merely pushing to foist a hegemonic interest.

  • Senate condemns killing of Army personnel in Delta state

    Senate condemns killing of Army personnel in Delta state

    The Senate on Monday, March 18, condemned the killing of 15 personnel of the Nigerian Army who were on a peace mission in Delta state.

    The chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, who gave the condemnation in a statement in Abuja, described the act as “a perfidious height of a barbaric and heinous crime.”

    He said the Red Chamber is solidly in support of President Bola Tinubu, saying, “charge to the security authorities to smoke out the undesirable outlaws who put off the glowing lights of those promising officers and men.”

    The statement reads: “The Nigerian Senate has received with sadness the gruesome and unthinkable killings of 15 personnel of the Nigerian Army by armed groups during a peace mission to Okuama Community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State on Thursday 14th March 2024. This is a perfidious height of a barbaric and heinous crime.

    “The Nigeria Armed Forces need our maximum cooperation, prayers and support at this trying period in our nation, as they conduct operations all over the country to restore peace and stability in troubled locations.

    “We salute the courage of the departed military men as they have paid the supreme price performing the ultimate act of service to the nation.

    Read Also: Budget padding controversy: ACF knocks Senate for suspending Ningi

    “The Senate leadership and all Distinguished Senators of the 10th Senate condemn this attack and convey their deepest condolences to the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, the Nigerian Army, officers and men of Operation Delta Safe as well as the families of all the personnel who have lost their lives.

    “We consequently support The President, the Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s charge to the security authorities to smoke out the undesirable outlaws who put off the glowing lights of those promising officers and men.”

  • Of culpable lawmakers and Senate’s banana peel (1)

    Of culpable lawmakers and Senate’s banana peel (1)

    The Nigerian Senate which houses 109 self-styled ‘distinguished’ senators was at its dramatic best last Tuesday in Abuja. At the end of plenary that day, the action and inaction that played out during that special session of self-interrogation merely gives credence to the general suspicion that the National Assembly is a safe haven for those who superintend over the criminal pillage of our national patrimony. It also explains why they do such with irreverent disrespect for the millions of Nigerians that are daily being deprived of humane existence in a country flowing with milk and honey. It exposes another level of banditry and audacious abductions of our collective inheritance by those whose sole mandate, as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution as emended, is to make laws for the good governance of the people—a people suffocating under the intense pummeling by the harsh realities of quotidian living. Unfortunately, it gives a discomfiting credibility to the narrative that Nigeria seems to enjoy a warm embrace with self-deceit and grandiose ululation. Whilst the senators immerse themselves in a deceitful nay adulatory aplomb of having succeeded in suspending Senator Abdul Ningi, who had attempted to impugn their integrity by alluding to a padded 2024 budget, the fallouts from that session paint a grim picture of a cultic band of systemic looters in the hallowed chambers regardless of the pretensions and impetuous braggadocio on display.

    Like many have pointed out in the past, as long as the National Assembly bureaucracy and the over 460 lawmakers continue to treat issues of full financial disclosures as a top secret item, the general public will not relent in throwing shades at them and a big question mark will forever hang on their true intentions in politics. That should be clear to them by now. And it is exactly for this reason that many are surprised that they didn’t seize the opportunity presented by the Ningi budget padding claim scandal to, at least, address the lingering matter of financial recklessness and legislative malfeasance even when the matter was raised by one of them, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party, Cross River State. For those of them celebrating the suspension of Ningi as some sort of victory and the restoration of the intrinsic values and ethos that should ordinarily define a gathering of dedicated lawmakers who have decided to sacrifice precious time and resources to the advancement of the general populace, I can only wish them a quick recovery from what can best be described as hollow triumphalism. The conversations have since moved from the ‘Ningi bombs’ to something deeper. While no one can deny the fact that Ningi’s revelations, disjointed as they were, set the template for the discourse on the crying loopholes and the multiple gaping holes deliberately left for those involved to use as avenues for larcenies and rape of the national till, Jarigbe’s Freudian slip while attempting to justify Ningi’s angst against the leadership of the National Assembly, no doubt, gives fillip to the fact that legislative heist, rather than reduce, has taken a life of its own. Listen to Jarigbe: “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. Did I go to the press? We don’t have to go into those issues.”

    If the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had succeeded in muting Jarigbe’s microphone before he unleashed that bombshell, we wouldn’t have known how deep the animosities are within the ranks and file. This writer was privileged to have watched that particular proceedings live and he couldn’t help but notice the derisiveness with which he spewed out the words. Of course, he knew that the session was being covered live by various media houses and his statement that he never bothered to go to the press even after Ningi confirmed that he was a beneficiary of the uncommon largess was a clever attempt to drill the final nail on the coffin. It was also a way of sending a signal to the press that what was on the table was bigger than Ningi’s allegation of N3.7 trillion budget padding claim. It was more about how those who consider themselves privileged either due to their positions as leaders in the red chamber or as ranking senators having spent more than the initial four-year tenure; use the opportunity to allocate humongous figures to their constituencies via the budget’s transitioning process in the National Assembly. In the lay man’s language, sans the diplomatese, what Jarigbe has done was to confirm the general belief by discerning Nigerians that the lawmakers do nothing other than pad the annual budgets with the connivance of the executive after which the budget is deemed ready to be signed into law. It is the annual ritual that has taken Nigeria to nowhere since May 29, 1999. This unholy alliance continues to yield failed promises and dashed hopes in the nation’s quest for national growth and development.

    Read Also: 22 soldiers confirmed killed in Delta community

    Although the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, made spirited efforts to douse the tension that was already brewing after Jarigbe’s revelations, his defence was, at best, laughable and did little or nothing to the reputational deficit that has been the lot of the lawmakers from time immemorial. While I understand Bamidele’s brazen resort to emotional blackmail in insisting that Ningi’s ultimate goal was to ensure that Akpabio was disgraced out of office in less than a year in the saddle, I find it jejune and unconscionable that he would rather wave off such a serious allegation by an equally ranking senator with a tendentious excuse that, “but we have 12 months to implement this budget and see whether any of these senators will not implement boreholes, enough solar street lights, road construction, training and empowerment that will not be up to N500m.” It is bad enough that, at a period when Nigerians are groaning under severe hunger and untold hardship with the constant plea by the government for them to make further sacrifice before the economy can pick up, their representatives in high places do nothing other than lay siege on budgetary allocations and rape it callously. The last time I checked, each lawmaker was entitled to N100m for constituency projects. We were also told that while they could decide on what projects to locate in those constituencies and ensure the delivery, they would not participate in picking the contractors or get involved in the financial dealings regarding the projects. And since it was agreed that each member would have an equal share of N100m each, how and when did the lawmakers agree that some heads deserve more projects in their constituencies than the others anyway? How did this anomaly transform into the norm in the National Assembly as being espoused by Senators Ali Ndume and Eyinnaya Abaribe in different interviews on the matter during the week?

    The leadership of the Senate and the bureaucracy would be making a grave mistake if they think that the germane questions raised by Ningi and Jarigbe had been dealt fatal blows with the expeditious, albeit illegal, three-month suspension clamped on Ningi and the obvious hushed command that was whisked at the direction of Jarigbe. The fact is that it is the beginning of the problem. Some senators are watching with keen interest and they would soon start asking questions. How, for example, did some leaders and ranking senators get allocations for projects worth billions of naira in their constituencies while many others only got the usual allocations? What is special about the leadership that, for example, Akpabio was able to inject projects worth N18.5bn into the line items of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for his Akwa Ibom North-West Constituency while Senator Gbenga Daniel of my Ogun East Constituency and a two-time governor of Ogun State to boot, could not attract such laudable projects to his constituency? Is it because he is a fresh member of the Senate and he is still learning the ropes about the dynamics and the manipulative tendencies in that place? Is it true that while some senatorial districts got allocations totaling N120bn, some others, including Ningi’s, only got N1.2bn total allocation in the same 2024 budget proposals sent to the president to sign into law? Why can’t the leadership be fair to each and every one knowing that it is presumed to be a gathering of equal members who have a mandate to deliver dividends of democracy to their people regardless of wherever they come from? How can Akpabio justify the allocation of a whopping N2.8bn for the purchase of deep freezers for women in Akwa Ibom North-West Constituency when his colleagues cannot even get allocations to buy farm tools for their suffering constituents? Is that how to be distinguished?

    …to be continued next week

  • FULL LIST: Seven lawmakers Senate suspended

    FULL LIST: Seven lawmakers Senate suspended

    The Senate on Tuesday suspended Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) for three months after alleging the 2024 budget was padded with N3 trillion.

    The Bauchi Central Senator also claimed that the 2024 budget passed is N25tn while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7tn.

    Also, Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP – Kano South) was warned to desist from spreading false information capable of destabilising the Senate.

    The “suspension” and “warning” followed the adoption of a motion on urgent national importance.

    However, before Ningi’s suspension, some Nigerian Senators had been suspended on the floor of the Senate floor for different offences.

    Here is a list of seven Nigerian senators that have been suspended.

    1. Femi Okurounmu (Ogun Central) suspended in 1999

    Offence: Alleging that senators were planning to impeach Obasanjo

    2. Joseph Waku (Benue) – (2000)

    In 2000, Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Benue State was suspended on the floor of the Nigerian Senate.

    Waku sparked a major controversy when he said it was better for the military to return through a coup than for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to continue as a dictator.

    3. Arthur Nzeribe (Imo, Orlu Constituency)- (2002) (Indefinite Suspension)

    Arthur Nzeribe was elected Senator for the Imo Orlu constituency in 1999 and reelected in 2003.

    In November 2002, Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim indefinitely suspended Senator Nzeribe due to a N22 million fraud allegation.

    Read Also: Senate suspends Ningi over ‘false budget padding claim’

    4. Isah Mohammed (Niger Central) suspended in October 2004

    Offence: For slapping Senator Iyabo Anisulowo

    5. Ali Ndume (Borno South) – Six-month suspension

    In 2017, the Senate suspended Ali Ndume after he asked for an investigation into allegations of importing a bulletproof Range Rover with fake documents involving then Senate President Bukola Saraki and that of perjury involving Dino Melaye.

    He was suspended for six months, instead of one year originally recommended by the ethics committee.

    6. Ovie Omo-Agege  (Delta Central ) – Three-month suspension

    In 2018, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, representing Delta Central Senatorial district, was suspended for 90 legislative days during the plenary.

    The Senate Committee on Public Petitions, Ethics and Privileges, which investigated him over comment on reordering the electoral timetable, recommended his suspension.

    7. Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) – Three Months Suspension

    On Tuesday, the Godswill Akpabio-led  Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi.

    Ningi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was suspended during Tuesday’s plenary over allegations of padding of the 2024 budget.

    The Bauchi Central Senator also claimed that the 2024 budget passed is N25tn while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7tn.

  • Senate suspends Ningi over ‘false budget padding claim’

    Senate suspends Ningi over ‘false budget padding claim’

    • Bauchi Central senator axed for three months
    • Appropriation committee chair clears air on N3.7tr

    The Senate yesterday wielded the big stick against Senator Abdul Ningi for making false budget padding claims.

    At a stormy session, aired live on national television channels, Ningi (PDP – Bauchi Central), former chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF), was suspended for three months by his angry colleagues through a voice vote.

    Also, Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP – Kano South) was warned to desist from spreading false information capable of destabilising the Senate.

    The “suspension” and “warning” followed the adoption of a motion on urgent national importance.

    The motion was titled: “Urgent need to address the false allegations against the Senate and the Presidency on the 2024 Appropriation Act by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central).”

    It was sponsored by the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Solomon Adeola (APC – Ogun West), and seconded by Joel Onowakpo Thomas (PDP – Delta South).

    Ningi had alleged in his interview with the BBC Hausa Service that projects worth N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Budget were not traceable, to the consternation of the majority of senators.

    Adeola said the padding claim was unfounded, stressing that the sectoral budgetary allocations were accompanied by projects.

    Ningi, who immediately left the chamber following his suspension, also resigned his position as the NSF chairman in a letter to the secretary of the forum, Senator Sadiq Suleiman (APC – Kwara North).

    “I would like to resign my position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum.

    “This is, of course, necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large,” he wrote.

    After the drama at the plenary, Senate President Godswill Akpabio was sighted at Aso Villa.

    Also during the debate, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe (PDP – Cross River North) made an allegation that some senators got N500 million as palliative.

    He said: “All of us are culpable. Some so-called senior senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 Budget. I am a ranking senator. I didn’t get anything. No senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi.”

    But, the Chairman of the Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu (APC – Ekiti South), dismissed the claim as false.

    He added, however, that Jarigbe later recanted, saying that he acted on hearsay.

    Nothing like padding, says Adeola

    Adeola, in his lead debate, said there was no N3.7 trillion provision in the budget without projects.

    He said the amount being referred to by Ningi was meant for statutory transfers to organs of the Federal Government on first-line charge.

    Adeola said: “There are some unfounded, ignorant and patently false statements credited to Distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi in some sections of the media that the 2024 Budget was padded to the tune of N3trillion and that the executive was implementing a different budget from what was passed by the National Assembly.

    “While I do not want to believe that any senator that witnessed the rigorous scrutiny in limited time of the 2024 Appropriation Bill would make such unfounded and false statement of budget padding to the press without seeking necessary clarifications from relevant committees and authorities of the parliament, it is pertinent for me as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to present the facts and dispel the spurious allegations and blatant misinformation contrived to distract and derail the effective implementation of the 2024 Appropriation Act for the good of Nigerians.

    “For the records, the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was N27.55trillion and the National Assembly eventually passed an Appropriation Bill of N28.77trillion, an increase of N1.2trillion.

    “The increase, which was assented to by the President came from the upward adjustment of benchmark of exchange rate from N750 -$1 to N800-$1 and increase in the GOE’s (Government Owned Enterprises) revenue.

    “This increase was allocated to some critical sectors based on requests from the executive and the judiciary.

    “There was no way the 2024 Budget could have been padded by the phantom N3trillion of Senator Ningi and his consultants.

    “The Northern Senators represented by Senator Ningi apparently gave wrong and incomplete information to their ‘consultants’ for them to arrive at a national budget of N25 trillion instead of the passed N28.77 trillion budget.

    “If there were no ulterior motives by Senator Ningi and some aggrieved senators targeted at derailing the APC administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and creating bickering between the Executive and the Legislature, he would have sought for clarifications on the discrepancies noted by their consultants for more enlightenment on budgeting and parliamentary processes before rushing to the press with misinformation.

    “It is now apparent that a ranking senator of Senator Ningi’s standing who should be conversant with the budgetary processes and nuances of the National Assembly, having served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate as a parliamentarian is completely ignorant of the process or is only being mischievously partisan against the administration of President Tinubu and the existing cordial and harmonious relationship between the executive and the legislature.

    “For the records, the N25 trillion Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ presented as the budget (N25.45trillion approximately) being implemented by the Executive are the details of the budgets of all MDAs.

    “It is unfortunate and regrettable that Senator Ningi and his consultants did not take into account that the budgets of some bodies are not captured in the details but in the summary of the Appropriation Act as passed.

    “All appropriations for Statutory Transfers, GOEs and TETFUND are only in the summary of the Act and not in the details.

    “The total sums of these appropriations captured in the summary and not in details as it is constitutional and in line with our budgetary process is N3.32 trillion.”

    Adeola explained the breakdown of the N3.32trillion as follows: National Judicial Council – N341.6bn, National Assembly – N344.8bn, Public Complaints Commission – N14bn, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – N40bn, Government-Owned Enterprises (Recurrent) – N1.059trn, Tetfund (Recurrent) – N35bn, Government-Owned Enterprises (Capital) N820.9bn and Tetfund (Capital) – N665bn.

    He added: “A simple arithmetic by Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ of the MDAs’ details and the figures of Statutory Transfers, GOEs and TETFUND in the summary, would amount to exactly the figures of the 2024 Appropriation of N28.77 trillion.

    “So, the Executive is implementing the 2024 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly and not the ‘dual’ budgets that Senator Ningi is leading the Nigerian public to believe.

    “From this false figure of the 2024 Budget as N25 trillion, it is not surprising that a false claim of ‘the Senate President inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget’ without location ‘was discreetly inserted’.

    “This is false and the Northern Senators are challenged to name such projects worth N4trillion without location if any of such exist.

    “It is also ridiculous for the Northern Senators to allege that the 2024 Budget was lopsided ‘against the North and some parts of the South’ in the story.

    “It would have been helpful if evidence of such lopsidedness against the run of passing a national budget is provided.

    “The National Assembly passed a national budget targeted at national development in tandem with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework that was earlier passed by the parliament.

    Read Also: Tinubu approves appointment of FCTA Head of Service, Perm Sec, others

    “The budget as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, including the Northern Senators, is being implemented as passed and any claim to the contrary is in the imagination of those who want to create national division for some ulterior motives yet to be ascertained.”

    The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, moved the motion that Adeola’s motion be referred to the Committee of the Whole for deliberation.

    The motion, which was seconded by the Minority Leader, Abba Moro, was approved by the Senate when the request was put to voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

    Other senators who contributed to the motion vented their anger.

    Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC – Edo North) said: “We have been stripped naked in the market. The minimum requirement is for Ningi to remedy what he has done.

    “Ningi has a duty even to his own children, not to be in front of television cameras saying what is wrong. Northern senators deserve to be told the truth.

    “If all of these have taken place and we are now suspect, it is for both of them to recant and say it was a mistake. Each time we try to destroy one of us, we destroy all of us.”

    Senator Sunday Karimi (APC – Kogi West) said: “What has been established here is that N3 trillion padding allegation is a lie. All information being passed around is from Senator Kawu and Ningi. That has been established.”

    Senator Godiya Akwashiki (SDP – Nasarawa North) said: “I think, to some extent, we don’t need to waste time on this issue. Ningi is the chief actor.”

    Akpabio said: “I think it is a straightforward matter. We have a role to be stabilisers of the Senate.”

    On the core allegation of budget padding, he said: “Everybody is saying Akpabio, Akpabio, Akpabio. I don’t think anybody ever called Tajudeen Abass, Tajudeen Abass, Tajudeen Abass!”

    The Minority Leader of the Senate, Abba Moro (PDP – Benue South), and his deputy, Senator Olalere Kamarudeen Oyewunmi (Osun West), dismissed Ningi’s claims that the leadership of the minority parties was imposed by the leadership of the Senate.

    Moro and Oyewunmi said they were duly elected by their colleagues, who signed their signatures to make them leaders.

    Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP – Kebbi Central), raising a constitutional order, pleaded that Ningi be given a fair hearing by allowing him to defend himself.

    Ningi, in his defence, said 80 per cent of the translation of his interview with the BBC Hausa Service as read out on the floor was correct.

    He also said that at no time did he say that the Senate passed N25 trillion as the 2024 budget or that the Executive is implementing two sets of budgets.

    Ningi said the findings of the consultants were only known to him, adding that he did not share them with members of the NSF.

    He, however, insisted that projects worth N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget were not traceable according to findings by consultants he commissioned to scrutinise the budget.

    He also alleged that he has five statutory aides like other senators, but cannot say how many aides the Senate President and his deputy, Barau Jibrin, had.

    He also claimed that some senatorial districts were allocated over N100bn while his district has only N2 billion.

    Akpabio said when Ningi met with him on the issue, he had demanded a copy of the report but was never given.

    At this point, there was rowdiness in the chamber. Many senators were on their feet while others besieged the seat of the Senate President.

    The Senate President stood up and invoked relevant rules of the Senate, which provide that all senators must take their seats and remain quiet when the Presiding Officer is on his feet to address the chamber.

    He warned that he was also empowered to direct the Sergeant-At-Arms to walk out any unruly Senator.

    At this point, the chamber became calm and the lawmakers resumed the debate.

    I never criticised budget, says Kawu

    Kawu said he did not author the message credited to him on the alleged operation of two budgets by the Executive and N3.7trillion padding.

    He said he only posted it on the platform of the NSF for their information.

    Kawu said after posting the message, Senator Aminu Tambawal and Deputy Senate President Barau called him and said he should not grant media interview on the matter. He said he kept to the advice.

    Bamidele: It was a failed coup

    Senate Leader Bamidele said for the first time, he intended to speak as senator representing Ekiti Central, and not as a principal officer.

    He said the padding allegation against the Senate was a continuation of the Senate leadership struggle that started in June last year.

    Bamidele said while Senators Ahmad Lawan and Tambuwal had declared that they have put the past behind them, some northern senators are bent on removing Akpabio before the 10th Senate attains one year in office in June.

    He added that what Ningi planned to do was tantamount to a civilian coup, which has failed, using the platform of the NSF.

    Bamidele said: “We must never accept any apology from Senator Ningi. It is ridiculous to do so. He lied deliberately against the Senate President. You’re occupying that seat 40 years after a Southsouth person occupied it.

    “The last time a Southerner was there was during Obasanjo and they were changed every time. It was only stable when it returned to the North. David Mark spent eight years, Saraki completed his four years, and Lawan spent his four years.

    “Don’t be deceived, the losers of the June 2023 Senate presidential election are still angry. Some have accepted, but a few haven’t. They have plotted to remove you before June 2024.

    “That is why you must not allow this deliberate mischief by Ningi to go away. He did it on purpose. He knew he was lying. He set the public against you. He will do it again. We must apply our rules.”

    Bamidele called for punitive measures against Ningi to serve as a deterrent to others.

    Akpabio put the following prayers in Adeola’s motion to voice vote.

    They are: “Pursuant to Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Order 2023 (as Amended) allow immediate deliberation of this matter and take appropriate action deemed fit in the overriding public interest and as a matter of urgent public importance to prevent a break down of law and order;

    “Take further necessary steps to correct the wrong impression in the public domain about the 2024 budget created by the BBC interview and other national media houses and social media platforms by Senator Abdul Ningi and amplified by Senator Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu through his Facebook account and other social media platforms;

    “Take any further decision as the Senate deems fit and proper to safeguard the integrity of the 2024 budget which is pivotal to the revamping of our economy.”

    The prayers were approved by the Senate.

    Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC – Ondo South), moved that Ningi be suspended for 12 months, without benefits and entitlement and that the Senate should send a warning letter to Kawu to stop spreading fake news.

    Senator Ede Dafinone (Delta South) supported the motion.

    Senator Mohammed Monguno said the prayer should be amended so that the matter be referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics and Petitions for further deliberation in line with relevant rules of the Senate.

    Akpabio said it was not possible since Ningi’s infraction did not take place inside the Senate.

    Senator Asuquo Ekpenyoung said the suspension should be reduced to six months.

    The suggestion was supported by Senator Mpigi Barinada (Rivers South East).

    Senator Abdulfatai Buhari proposed a three-month suspension, with an opportunity for an apology.

    Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South) proposed three months with a clause of recall the very next day after the written apology. It was backed by Senator Sani Musa.

    Senators approved that Ningi be suspended for three months when the motion was put to a voice vote by the Senate President.

    Implication of suspension, by Sani

    In a tweet, former Kaduna South Senator Shehu Sani, explained the consequences of the three-month suspension slammed on Ningi.

    Sani said: “Suspension in the Senate means a senator will not be allowed to attend the plenary and will be prohibited from attending committee meetings and participating in oversight functions.

    “His salaries, allowances and all entitlements will be blocked; he will not have access to his office and he is expected not to be seen within the premises of the National Assembly until the suspension is lifted.”

    According to him, he would have been suspended for making public the salaries and running costs of lawmakers, but the then Senate President (Dr. Bukola Saraki), who intervened.

  • UPDATED: Drama as Senate suspends Ningi for three months over false N3.7tr budget padding claim

    UPDATED: Drama as Senate suspends Ningi for three months over false N3.7tr budget padding claim

    There was drama on Tuesday as the Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi for three months over his false claims that projects worth N3.7trillion in the 2024 budget were not traceable.

    On his part, Senator Kawu Sumaila (NNPP – Kano South) was warned to desist from spreading false information capable of destabilising the Senate.

    The suspension of Ningi, who was the chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum and the warning handed to Sumaila (Spokesman of the NSF) followed the consideration and adoption of a motion on urgent national importance titled:

    “Urgent need to address the false allegations against the Senate and the Presidency on the 2024 Appropriation Act by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central).

    The motion was sponsored by Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC – Ogun West) and seconded by Senator Joel Onowakpo Thomas (PDP – Delta South).

    After his suspension, Senator Ningi resigned as the NSF chairman in a letter addressed to the secretary of the forum, Senator Sadiq Suleiman (APC – Kwara North).

    “I will like to resign my position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum. This is of course necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the Nation at large,” Ningi said in his letter.

    Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC – Ekiti South) also dismissed as false claims that some Senators had received N500million as palliatives.

    The allegation was made by Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe during his contribution to the debate of the alleged N3.7trillion provision in the budget without traceable projects.

    However, Adaramodu while briefing reporters said Jarigbe later recanted, stating the allegation was a product of hearsay.

    “All of us are culpable. Some so called Senior Senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 Budget. I am a ranking Senator, I didn’t get anything. No Senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi,” Jarigbe had said.

    Adeola in his lead debate, said there was no N3.7trillion provision in the budget without projects.

    He said the amount being referred to by Ningi were meant for statutory transfers to organs of the federal government placed on first line charge.

    Adeola said: “In response to some unfounded, ignorant and patently false statements credited to Distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi, (PDP, Bauchi Central) the chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, in some sections of the media that the 2024 Budget was padded to the tune of N3trillion and that the executive was implementing a different budget from what was passed by the National Assembly.

    “While I do not want to believe that any senator that witnessed the rigourous scrutiny in limited time of the 2024 Appropriation Bill would make such unfounded and false statement of budget padding to the press without seeking necessary clarifications from relevant committees and authorities of the parliament, it is pertinent from me as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to present the facts and dispel the spurious allegations and blatant misinformation of Nigerians contrived to distract and derail the effective implementation of the 2024 Appropriation Act for the good of Nigerians.

    “For the records, the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was N27.55trillion and the National Assembly eventually passed an Appropriation Act of N28.77trillion, an increase of N1.2trillion.

    “The increase which was assented to by the President came from the upward adjustment of benchmark of exchange rate from N750 -$1 to N800-$1 and increase in the GOE’s revenue.

    “This increase was allocated to some critical sectors based on requests from the executive and the judiciary.

    “There was no way the 2024 Budget could have been padded by the phantom N3trillion of Senator Ningi and his consultants.

    “The Northern Senators represented by Senator Ningi apparently gave wrong and incomplete information to their ‘consultants’ for them to arrive at a national budget of N25 trillion instead of the passed N28.77trillion budget.

    “If there were no ulterior motives by Senator Ningi and some aggrieved senators targeted at derailing the APC administration of  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and creating bickering between the Executive and the Legislature, he would have sought for clarifications on the discrepancies noted by their consultants for more enlightenment on budgeting and parliamentary processes before rushing to the press with misinformation.

    “It is now apparent that a ranking senator of Senator Ningi’s standing that should be conversant with the budgetary processes and nuances of the National Assembly, having served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate as a parliamentarian is completely ignorant of the process or is only being mischievously partisan against the administration of President Tinubu and the existing cordial and harmonious  relationship between the executive and the legislature.

    “For the records, the N25 trillion Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ presented as the budget (N25.45trillion approximately) being implemented by the Executive is the details of the budgets of all MDAs.

    “It is unfortunate and regrettable that Senator Ningi and his consultants did not take into account that the budgets of some bodies are not captured in the details but in the summary of the Appropriation Act as passed.

    “All appropriations for Statutory Transfers, Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and TETFUND are only in the summary of the Act and not in the details.

    “The total sums of these appropriations captured in the summary and not in details as it is constitutional and in line with our budgetary process is N3.32trillion.”

    According to Adeola, the breakdown of the N3.32trillion is as follows: National Judicial Council – N341.6bn, National Assembly – N344.8bn, Public Complaints Commission – N14bn, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – N40bn, Government-Owned Enterprises (Recurrent) – N1.059trn, Tetfund (Recurrent) – N35bn,

    Government-Owned Enterprises (Capital)

    N820.9bn and

    Tetfund (Capital) – N665bn.

    Adeola added: “A simple arithmetic by Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ of the MDAs’ details and the figures of Statutory Transfers, GOEs and TETFUND in the summary, would amount to exactly the figures of the passed 2024 Appropriation of N28.77 trillion.

    Read Also: Politicians exploited our ethno-religious fault lines in 2023 election – Shettima

    “So, the Executive is implementing the 2024 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly and not dual budgets that Senator Ningi is leading Nigeria public to believe.

    “From this false figure of the 2024 Budget as N25 trillion, it is not surprising that a false claim of ‘the Senate President inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget’ without location ‘were discreetly inserted,’ could be made in the story.

    “This is false and the Northern Senators are challenged to name such projects worth N4trillion without location if any of such exist.

    “It is also ridiculous for the Northern Senators to allege that the 2024 Budget was lopsided “against the North and some parts of the South” in the story.

    “It would have been helpful if evidences of such lopsidedness against the run of passing a national budget is provided.

    “The National Assembly passed a national budget targeted at national development in tandem with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework that was earlier passed by the parliament.

    “The budget as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives including the Northern Senators is being implemented as passed and any claim to the contrary is in the imagination of those who want to create national division for some ulterior motives yet to be ascertained.”

    After moving the Motion, the Leader of the Senate moved motion that the Adeola’s motion be referred to the committee of the whole for deliberation.

    This was seconded by the Minority Leader Abba Moro and approved by the Senate when the request was put to voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

    In their contributions, the Minorities Leader of the Senate, Abba Moro (PDP – Benue South) and his deputy, Senator Olarere Kamarudeen Oyewunmi, dismissed Ningi’s claims that the leadership of the minority parties was imposed by the leadership of the Senate.

    Moro and Oyewunmi, said they were duly elected by their colleagues who duly signed their signatures to make them leaders.

    Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP – Kebbi Central) raising a constitutional order, pleaded that Ningi be given fair hearing by allowing him to defend himself.

    Ningi in his defence, said that 80 per cent of the translation of his interview with the BBC Hausa Service as read out on the floor was correct.

    He also said that at no time did he say that the Senate passed N25trillion as 2024 budget or that the executing is implementing two sets of budgets.

    Ningi said the findings of the consultants was only known to him and that he did not share it with member of the NSF.

    He however insisted that projects worth N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget were not traceable according to findings by consultants he commissioned to scrutinize the budget.

    He also alleged that he has five statutory aides like other senators but cannot say how may aides, the Senate President and his deputy, Barau Jibrin have.

    He also claimed that some senatorial districts were allocated over N100bn while his own district has only N2billion.

    Akpabio said that when Ningi met with him on the issue, he had demanded a copy of the report but was never given before the latter went to the press.

    At this point there was rowdiness in the chamber with many Senators on their feet while others besieged the seat of the Senate President.

    When the development became uncontrollable, the Senate President stood up and invoked relevant rules of the Senate which provides that all Senators must take take their seats and remain quiet when the Presiding Officer is on his feet to address the chamber.

    He warned that he was also empowered to direct the Sergeant-At-Arms to walk out any Senators who may prove unruly.

    At this point, the chamber became calm and the lawmakers resumed their debate.

    On his part, Kawu said that he did not author the message concerning the alleged operation of two budgets by the executive and the issue of N3.7trillion padding.

    He claimed he only posted it on the platform of the NSF for their information.

    He further said that after posting the message, Senator Aminu Tambawal and Deputy Senate President Barau called him and said he should not grant media interview on the matter. He said he kept to the advice.

    Rising on his feet, Senate Leader Opeyemi’s Bamidele, said for the first time he intends to speak as Senator representing Ekiti Central and a South lawmaker.

    He said that the padding allegation against the Senate was a continuation of the struggle for his election as Presiding Officer in June last year.

    He said while senators Ahmad Lawan and Tambuwal had declared that they have put the past behind, some northern senators are bent on removing Akpabio before the 10th Senate attains one year in office in June this year.

    He added that what Ningi planned to do was tantamount to a civilian coup which has failed – using the the platform of the NSF.

    Bamidele said: “We must never accept any apology from Senator Ningi. It is ridiculous to do so. He lied deliberately. Mr Senate President, you’re occupying that seat 40 years after a South South person occupied it.

    “The last time a Southerner was there was during Obasanjo and they were being changed every time. It was only stable when it returned to the north. David Mark spent 8 years, Saraki completed his 4 years, Lawan spent his 4 years.

    “Don’t be deceived, the losers of June 2023 Senate President election are still angry. Some have accepted but a few haven’t. They have plotted to remove you before June 2024.

    “That is why you must not allow this deliberate mischief by Ningi to go away. He did it on purpose. He knew he was lying, he set the public against you, he will do it again. We must apply our sanction…..”

    He called for punitive measures against Ningi to serve as a deterrent to others.

    At this point, Senate President Akpabio put the following prayers in Adeola’s motion to voice vote.

    They are: “Pursuant to Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Order 2023 (as Amended) allow immediate deliberation of this matter and take appropriate action deemed fit in the overriding public interest and as a matter of urgent public importance to prevent break down of law and order;

    “Take further necessary steps to correct the wrong impression in public domain of 2024 budget created by the BBC interview and other national media houses and social media platforms by Senator Abdul Ningi and amplified by Senator Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu through his facebook account and other social media platforms; and

    “Take any further decision as the senate deem fit and proper to safeguard the integrity of the 2024 budget which is pivotal to the revamping of our economy.”

    The prayers were approved by the Senate.

    Senator Jimoh Ibrahim said he had an additional prayers and was recognized by Akpabio.

    Ibrahim moved that Ningi be suspended for 12 months, without benefits and entitlement ans that the Senate should send a warning letter to Kawu to stop  spreading fake news (wrong information).

    Senator Ede Dafinone (Delta South) supported the motion.

    On his part, Senator Mohammed Monguno said the prayer should be amended so that the matter be referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics and petitions for further deliberation in line with relevant rules of the Senate.

    Akpabio said that is not possible since Ningi’s infraction did not take place inside the senate.

    Senator Asuquo Ekpenyoung said your suspension should be reduced to six months.

    Senator Mpigi Barinada (Rivers South East) supported the motion that the suspension period be reduced to six months.

    On his part, Senator Buhari Abdulfatai proposed three months suspension with opportunity for apology.

    Senator Garba Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South), proposed three months with a clause of recall the very next day after written apology.

    Senator Sani Musa seconded Maidoki’s motion.

    Senators approved that Ningi be suspended for three months when the motion was put to voice vote by Senate President Akpabio.

    Ningi was observed clutching the many reports and documents he brought to the session and leaving the chamber immediately his suspension was pronounced by Akpabio.

    Ningi’s letter of resignation as the NSF chairman was later circulated to the press through WhatsApp platforms.

  • Tension as Senate meets over N3tr alleged padding of 2024 budget on Tuesday

    Tension as Senate meets over N3tr alleged padding of 2024 budget on Tuesday

    There is palpable anxiety in the National Assembly over alleged N3 trillion padding of the 2024 budget.

    This is even as it was learnt that the Senate would meet on Tuesday over the allegations before making its position on the issue known.

    Also, the allegation by the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP – Bauchi Central) has divided the body.

    A section of the Forum on Sunday in a statement made available to reporters, attacked Ningi over his comments which they described as being laced with anti-Tinubu/Akpabio undertones.

    Also, a source who spoke on the issue in confidence described Ningi’s claims as a self-indictment.

    The Northern Senators Forum had on Saturday vowed to meet President Bola Tinubu over alleged N3trillion padding it ‘discovered’ in the 2024 budget.

    The chairman of the Forum, Senator Abdul Ningi, made the claims during an interview aired by the BBC, Hausa Service.

    Ningi said the forum had commissioned consultants to thoroughly scrutinize the 2024 budget to reveal how N3trillion was surreptitiously added to the amount passed on the floor by lawmakers.

    He also said the Forum would soon confront Senate President Godswill Akpabio with its findings concerning the N3trillion alleged ‘padding.’

    The Senate Committee on Appropriation had on Sunday, March 10, scheduled a press conference with Senate Correspondents apparently to respond to Ningi’s claims of padding the 2024 budget to the tune of N3trillion.

    But the Press Conference was later cancelled after the Senate Committee on Appropriation met.

    Speaking to reporters after the panel’s meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Solomon Adeola (APC – Ogun West), said the press conference was put on hold to allow the Senate to meet and deliberate on the allegations on Tuesday and thereafter make its position known.

    “The Senate has its procedures and rules. Since the allegations did not come from an outsider but a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate will meet and deliberate on them on Tuesday before briefing the press,” Adeola said.

    Read Also: I was disappointed when Senate rejected my father’s ministerial nomination – El-Rufai’s son

    However, a source said what Ningi did amounted to self-indictment.

    The source said: “Number one, what Ningi did was self-indictment. There’s this saying in Hausa that if the person speaking is a fool, the person listening will not be a fool.

    “Yes, this budget, when they say it’s skewed, it is skewed to where? Who prepared the budget? All the committees were the ones that did the budget.

    Our own is to compile the budget. Our mandate did not say, to make sure that the North got an equal amount with the South. No. So what are they talking about? It’s self-indictment. Who passed the budget?

    And then, who is the budget minister? Is he not from the North? Atiku Bagudu is from the North. It is not the Minister of Finance who is from Lagos that prepared the budget. He executes the budget. Who prepared the budget? Who gives each MDA a ceiling? Again in the budget team, the Southerners are in the minority in both chambers.

    “The chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation is from North West and the bulk stops there. Solomon Adeola is the chairman of the Appropriation Committee and he is from Southwest, but he did not prepare the budget.

    “Now, they said they have a document and they employed a consultant and that the consultant said that the budget is skewed. And that the budget is actually N25 trillion.

    “Now who are you inducting? So it means the National Assembly padded the budget with N3 trillion. Who added the N3 trillion?

    Not only Ningi, the members of the caucus or senators from the north are more than the number of Senators from the south. They are just trying to indict us.

    “He said in his interview that the work is in progress, that it is an interim report. A meeting of the Northern Senators Forum was called and we met the Senate President.

    “Some of us didn’t want to go but they insisted. We demanded for evidence to justify their claims that the North had been short-changed. We even asked them to make the report of their investigation on the alleged skewed budget, with relevant documents.

    “At the meeting, the Senate President told our colleagues in the NSF that he was not aware of any budget padding and challenged Ningi to submit to the Senate leadership, a copy of the report presented to him by the team of consultants which allegedly spotted the padded N3trillion.”

    Meanwhile, the NSF is now sharply divided over the allegations as three of its members have openly disagreed with Ningi and his claims.

    The three senators – Steve Sunday Karimi, Titus Tartenger Zam and Kaka Sheu – yesterday, said the allegation of budget padding against Senate President Godswill Akpabio by some senators was unfounded, baseless and a figment of imagination.

    They warned against what they described as the antics of blackmailers bent on creating an atmosphere of crisis in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.

    Karimi, Zam and Sheu, speaking on behalf of the Northern Senators’ Forum, also said no room should be allowed for division and acrimony between senators from the North and South by those who may not want to accord priority to national unity and harmony.

    In their statement, Karimi, who is from Kogi State, Zam from Benue State and Sheu from Borno State, on behalf of the Northern Senators’ Forum, said they cannot be used to blackmail the budget process, which was done in good faith.

    The senators claimed that at a meeting last week, some northern senators accused the Senate President of inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget.

    They said it was further alleged that the projects, which had no locations, were inserted into the budget, which they also claimed was lopsided against the North and some parts of the South.

    The northern senators were said to have also accused Akpabio of railroading the senators to hurriedly pass the budget, adding that it favoured Akpabio and his cronies.

    However, shedding light on what transpired at the meeting, Karimi, Zam and Sheu, said it was only resolved that the report of the consultant engaged by the Northern Senators Forum be subjected to further scrutiny, as the entire appropriation process was a combination of work, from the executive, actively represented by the minister of budget and national planning and other ministers, the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation and the Senate Committees on Appropriation.

    Dismissing the allegation of padding as a ruse, they said while the executive brought a budget proposal of 27.5 trillion, the Senate passed a budget of 28.77 trillion.

    They queried: “The difference was N1.27 trillion, coming from all three arms of government. Where is the additional so-called padding of three trillion coming from?

    “It was resolved that the Northern Senators’ consultant report be looked into by essential committees of the Senate and House of Representatives before jumping to a conclusion.”

    Karimi, Zam and Sheu urged the Northern Senators Caucus Leader, Abdul Ningi, to “rein in those who think a crisis-ridden Senate would better profit them.”

    Noting that the North has provided leadership in Nigeria and enjoyed the support of other regions seamlessly, the trio said the representatives of the North should not appear to act as instruments of destabilisation now that power has shifted to the South.

    In their view, “the North can agitate for a fair share of the national pie, but within the ambits of decency, decorum and dignity.”

    They added: “Senator Ningi has not given the correct information. He is yet to even give the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives a copy of what he claims to have discovered in the 2024 Appropriation Act before levelling allegations of budget padding against the President, the Senate President and the Senate.

    “President Tinubu presented a budget estimate of over N27 trillion on 28th November to the National Assembly, which passed a budget of over N28 trlllion; which became an Act of Parliament on 1st January 2024.

    “Where did Senator Ningi get his Appropriation Act of N25 trillion? What about the extra requests that chairmen of appropriation committees of both chambers claimed came from the Executive after the submission of the initial over N27 trillion proposals by Mr President?

    “So, how did Senator Ningi’s budget analyst get the N3 trillion budget padding allegations? Must we attempt to give a dog a bad name to hang it? Are APC members of the Northern Senators Forum that PDP Senator Ningi claims to lead oblivious of the anti-Tinubu/Akpabio undertones? The National Assembly should not be denigrated.”

  • Outage disrupts Senate’s plenary for 30 minutes

    Outage disrupts Senate’s plenary for 30 minutes

    The Senate yesterday delayed its plenary for about 30 minutes following prolonged outage in the chambers.

    The outage was reportedly caused by the generator powering the Senate wing of the National Assembly, which was said to have developed a fault.

    The development threw the Red Chamber into partial blackout, and senators had to wait for power supply to be restored.

    Senate President Godswill Akpabio kicked off plenary after power was restored some minutes later.

    The Senate President apologised for the outage and the heat in the Upper Chamber.

    He said nine offices of senators were still experiencing outage as work was ongoing to rectify the situation.

    Akpabio said: “They (electricians) are still working on the light. It went off since morning. It is even affecting some of the offices on the fourth floor. We have about nine offices that they have not been able to rectify, but they are working on it.

    Read Also: How power outage delayed Senate’s sitting for 30 minutes

    “They have assured us that before one o’clock, the light would be okay. However, I have noticed even the press (journalists); some of them are fanning themselves. At least, they feel the heat also.

    “If it gets too hot, then we may have to adjourn for a while to allow them to conclude (the repairs). But they are working on it. I apologise for any inconvenience.”

    The Chairman of the Committee on Services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West), also told reporters that the situation was caused by a faulty generator.

    He said: “It is an uncommon incident. Since the 10th Assembly, we’ve not had this kind of experience. Often, when we’re sitting, we use the generator. Unfortunately today, our generator developed a fault.

    “It has nothing to do with the fuel issue. They had to switch to the second generator used by the House of Representatives.”

    “You will also observe that within 10 to 15 minutes of switching to the House’s generator, our generator was restored.”

    The Nation reports that air conditioners in the offices of about 20 senators were not functioning as a result of the power cut.

  • How power outage delayed Senate’s sitting for 30 minutes

    How power outage delayed Senate’s sitting for 30 minutes

    The Senate on Tuesday, March 5, delayed its plenary sitting for about 30 minutes following prolonged power outage in the chambers.

    The outage was caused by the faulty generator powering the Senate wing of the National Assembly.

    The development threw the Red Chamber into partial blackout as Senators waited for the restoration of power supply.

    President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio commenced plenary after power was restored some minutes later.

    Akpabio on commencement of plenary apologised for the power outage and the heat in the Chamber.

    He revealed that about nine offices occupied by Senators were still experiencing outage as work was ongoing to rectify the situation.

    Akpabio said: “They are still working on the light. It went off since morning, it is even affecting some of the offices on the fourth floor, we have about nine offices that they have not been able to rectify but they are working on it.

    Read Also; Come back home if you’re tired – Actress Uchenna Nnanna tells Nigerians in Diaspora

    “They have assured us that before 1 O’clock the light will be okay. However, I have noticed even the press (journalists) some of them are fanning themselves at least they feel the heat also.

    “If it gets too hot then we may have to adjourn for a while to allow them to conclude but they are working on it. I apologise for any inconvenience.”

    The Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi (APC – Kogi West), also told journalists that the situation was caused by a faulty generator.

    Karimi said: “It is an uncommon incident. Since the 10th Assembly, we’ve not had this kind of experience.

    “Often when were sitting, we use the generator. Unfortunately today, our generator developed a fault.

    “It has nothing to do with the fuel issue. So, they had to switch to the second generator used by the House of Representatives.

    “You will also observe that within 10 to 15 minutes of switching to the House’s generator, our generator was restored.”

    Checks by Our Correspondent revealed that air-conditioners in the offices of about 20 senators are currently not functioning as a result of the power cut.

  • Senate throws out bill seeking to include Anambra among NDDC States

    Senate throws out bill seeking to include Anambra among NDDC States

    The Senate on Wednesday threw out a Bill which sought to include Anambra among States comprising the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The move and rejection led to disagreement between Senator Tony Nwoye (LP – Anambra North) and Senator Jibrin Isah popularly known as Echocho (APC – Kogi East).

    The Bill titled: A Bill for an Act to amend the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act to make provision for the inclusion of Anambra State as one of the member state and for other connected matters thereto, 2024” was sponsored by Senator Nwoye. 

    Nwoye in his lead debate, said that Anambra deserved to be a  member of NDDC States having been collecting 13 per cent derivation since 2021 on account of oil production in the state on yearly basis.

    But most of the Senators who made contributed to the debate on the bill, opposed the move on the grounds that States like Kogi and Lagos are not covered by NDDC operations despite being oil- producing States.

    Specifically, Senator Isah said NDDC by its name is more of a regional or geographical intervention body and not just an amalgam of oil producing states.

    He noted that his home State (Kogi) has also been collecting 13% derivation as an oil-producing State.

    Nwoye vehemently countered Isah’s claim by repeatedly brandishing a document in his hand that it is Anambra and not Kogi, that has been collecting 13% derivation.

    “Mr President and distinguished colleagues, Anambra as an oil producing state has been collecting 13% derivation from oil exploited from her wells by the federal government since 2021 and eminently deserves to be included in the operational radius of NDDC.

    Read Also: NDDC under Ogbuku’s watch on track to lift Niger Delta, says Dickson 

    “Kogi State was also declared as an oil producing state but has not been collecting any 13% derivation,” he said.

    At this point Senator Isah  warmed Senator Nwoye to limit his argument to Anambra State and allow the Senate to decide the fate of his bill.

    “Senator Nwoye with all due respect, please stop dragging Kogi State into your argument for membership of Anambra State in NDDC. Kogi State is an oil producing State and has also been collecting 13% derivation since October 2022,” he said.

    Senate President Godswill Akpabio in a bid to douse the tension building between the two Senators, said if the argument of Senator Nwoye on proposed membership of Anambra State in NDDC is to be accepted by the Senate, then Lagos State which has two oil wells in Badagry, will also advocate for membership of the commission. 

    On submissions made by Senator Nwoye that even if NDDC is considered to be a geographical or regional interventionist body, Anambra State is qualified to be a member on account of its proximity to Niger Delta area, Akpabio said the National Boundary Commission should be allowed to so decide.

    Senators voted against the bill when it was put to voice vote and was subsequently threw away.