EKO HOT BLOG reports that three Senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) have contested the claims made by Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, regarding the alleged padding of the 2024 budget by N3 trillion.
According to information gathered by this online media platform, the dissenting senators include Steve Sunday Karimi (APC-Kogi), Titus Tartenger Zam (APC-Benue), and Kaka Shehu (APC-Borno).
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Recall that Senator Ningi had in an interview with BBC Hausa alleged that the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as the 2024 budget and not the N28.7 trillion being implemented by the Federal Government.
Ningi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated that the Northern Forum lawmakers sought the service of a private auditor and discovered irregularities in the budget.
However, in a statement over the weekend on behalf of the Northern Senators’ Forum, the three senators said the allegation of budget padding by Ningi was unfounded, baseless and a figment of imagination.
They stated that the allegation was the antics of blackmailers bent on creating an atmosphere of crisis in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.
According to the three lawmakers, 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.
The three lawmakers said it was only resolved at the meeting of the forum that the report of the consultant engaged by the Northern Senators Forum be subjected to further scrutiny.
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.
“Senator Ningi has not given a 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 estimates 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 Sen 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 submission of the initial over N27 trillion proposals by Mr President?
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“So, how did Sen Ningi’ s budget analyst get the N3trillion budget padding allegations? Must we attempt to give a dog a bad name to hang it? Are APC members of Northern Senators Forum that PDP Senator Ningi claims to lead oblivious of the anti-Tinubu/Akpabio undertones. The National Assembly should not be denigrated.”
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