Some members of the Northern Senators Forum have distanced themselves from their chairman, Abdul Ningi on the allegation that the Presidency padded N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget.
ASHENEWS reported HERE on Sunday that the Forum alleged that the Tinubu government padded N3.7 trillion in this year’s budget.
“This is true. For the past three months, we have engaged consultants to review the budget for us. We have some experts that are working on it line by line.
“We have seen the huge damage that was done not only to the North but the entire country in that budget. We are supposed to sit with the Senate president to inform him about what we have observed.
“We want to show him what we have seen in the budget that is not acceptable. We will not accept them and we don’t want the country to continue spending money on those things.
ASHENEWS also reported the Presidency HERE where it denied the Senators’ allegation.
ALSO READ 2024: Tinubu replies Northern Senators over budget padding claim
“Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.
“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.
“For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion, but what was passed was N25 trillion. So, there is N3 trillion on top. Where are they? Where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things. We are coming up with a report and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not. This is what we intended to do. We are to meet the president,” Ningi had said in the allegation.
However, the Senators, in a statement by Senators Iyal Abbas from Adamawa; Ibrahim Bomoi from Yobe; Abdullahi Yar’ Adua, and four others, distanced themselves from their Forum’s Chairman.
“We, the undersigned on behalf of the Senators from the 19 Northern States and the FCT, under the aegis of Northern Senators Forum (NSF), hereby state that Senator Ahmed Abdul Ningi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Bauchi Central), who also happens to be the chairman of our forum, was on his own in the claims he made on the BBC Hausa Service on the 2024 budget.
“As such, the view he expressed was his personal opinion, sentiment and unfortunately skewed, incorrect and misleading.
“There was never a time where we held a meeting and mandated Senator Ningi to address the press on the said matter.
“The budget was presented to the National Assembly during a joint session of the two chambers – Senate and House of Representatives – by President Bola Tinubu on November 29, 2023, in line with the requirement of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ALSO READ Tinubu padded ₦3trn in 2024 budget, Northern Senators allege
“Both chambers of the National Assembly diligently and meticulously debated, processed, and passed the proposal of the President. And satisfied with it, the President assented to it.
“It is clear that Mr President presented a budget of N27.5 trillion to the National Assembly and the Assembly passed a budget of N28.7 trillion based on the need to make increases or decreases in the appropriations of the various MDAs, which is in tandem with the legislative powers of the National Assembly to address critical projects and services across various sectors.
“Therefore, the statement made by Senator Ningi that the 2024 budget presented to the National Assembly by Mr President was the sum of N25 trillion was not correct and that should not be taken as the position of the Northern Senators Forum.
“To the best of our knowledge, there was no budget padding whatsoever that was done to the 2024 budget.
“The assertion by Senator Ningi that certain things were done to the bill is his personal opinion. It is not the view of the generality of us, the Northern Senators.
“Hence, we strongly and collectively dissociate ourselves from his action which was grossly unparliamentary.
“That, we, the Northern Senators are solidly behind President Bola Tinubu and we will continue to support him to succeed in addressing the challenges facing our country.
“Nigeria, at this particular moment, does not need ethnic sentiments but collaborations of all to bring prosperity to our beloved country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We will continue to work with our brothers and sisters from the southern part of the country to move our country forward for the benefit of all and sundry,” the statement reads.
