9 months ago
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A member of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF) and chairman of the Senate Services Committee, Senator Sunday Karimi has berated Senator Abdul Ningi over claims that N3.7trillion in the 2024 budget was not tied to any item.
Recall that Ningi during 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.
Reacting to Ningi’s allegations, Karimi advised him to say the truth, since he claimed he is not afraid of suspension.
The senator noted that Ningi spoke on behalf of the Northern colleagues and not in his own capacity, adding that nobody in the NSF authorised him to lie.
Karimi said: “I advise Senator Ningi to at least fear God if he is not afraid of suspension. He spoke for the NSF and not for himself even though nobody authorized him in the NSF to lie against the Senate.”
Karimi maintained that Senator Ningi was up to no good.
He wondered why Ningi did not approach the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, to address the situation but instead decided to spill to the media.
“When they met the Senate President, Akpabio requested that they should bring the report so that he would set up a committee to find out if there was anything like that.
“We went to the Senate President as members of the NSF, but since he is on a mission of self-destruct, Senator Ningi decided to go to the media instead of bringing the report to the Senate President to set up a committee to authenticate the veracity of the claims.”
Speaking further, Senator Karimi chided Ningi saying, “As a former principal officer, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, is Senator Ningi saying he is ignorant of the fact that arrangement of items on the first line charges are not usually lumped together with general items in the budget?
“I must say that Senator Ningi is just trying to engage in red-herring and sow the seed of institutional anarchy. As a ranking lawmaker, he should know that the organization of first-line charge items is not lined up on the budget.
“A new legislator could have been forgiven for this invidious tar-brushing but a ranking senator cannot claim ignorance of the organization of budget items.”
