In defence of Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi
A wave of budget padding allegations has been striking the country since Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District at the Red Chamber under the platform of the PDP, exposed it to Nigerians in an interview with BBC Hausa Service last week. He has been suspended by the Senate for three months just because […]
A wave of budget padding allegations has been striking the country since Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District at the Red Chamber under the platform of the PDP, exposed it to Nigerians in an interview with BBC Hausa Service last week. He has been suspended by the Senate for three months just because of accusing the Red Chamber of padding the 2024 budget with N3.7 trillion.
Beyond doubt, Section 80(4) of the 1999 Constitution guarantees that the lawmakers have the prerogative to make some much-needed adjustments to the budget presented to the National Assembly. The lawmakers are required to ensure that the principles of federal character are protected in the presented budget. But, inserting some ghost projects without allocation to some constituencies or districts with the purpose of diverting public funds into individual bank accounts like their inherited estates, is absolutely a gargantuan corruption and grossest ingratitude to their constituents and the entire nation.
To be frank, the allegation of padding in the 2024 budget has come as no surprise to many Nigerians as it has been in the National Assembly since 1999. This is a long-existing culture and open secret with all past and serving lawmakers of the National Assembly.
It has been alleged that the 2024 budget, which is N28.7 trillion passed and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, was one-sided, partial and unbalanced. It has been skewed against the northern part of the country. This is what sparked the budget padding allegation.
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The suspended senator should be commended for providing an unprecedented sense of integrity to Nigerians at the National Assembly by dissociating himself from promoting the longest-existing systematic culture of open corruption. He is now being admired by various human rights activists here and abroad owing to his refusal to attach to the coven of corrupt individuals who only represent their pockets at the Upper Chamber.
It is unfortunate that today Nigeria’s politicians and electorate have been sliding their juvenile democracy into a lucrative investment during primary and secondary elections through vote trading. Instead of bringing a multitude of meaningful dividends of democracy and other developmental projects, the elected political leaders strive to ensure they replace what they lost via budget padding or ghost projects.
In this mysterious heated political battle, I strongly call on all the lawmakers of the PDP at the National Assembly including the governors of this major opposition party to throw their weight behind this man of integrity and patriotic senator struggling to eliminate social injustice, unfairness, political parochialism and breach of public trust at the Red Chamber.
Mustapha Baba Azare, Bauchi State