Senator Ningi face disciplinary actions for Criminal misinformation over 2024 budget padding allegations
A member of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Jimoh Ibrahim, has asked the Federal Government to charge Senator Abdul Ningi to court for criminal misinformation and breach of peace in the National Assembly and the country by extension.
In a chat with Senate correspondents on Monday, Ibrahim said it is not true that the country has two Appropriation Acts as claimed by his colleague, Ningi.
Ibrahim, who represents Ondo South Senatorial District, urged the Senate and the Federal Government to “as a matter of urgency, charge Senator Ningi for criminal misinformation, and conduct likely to breach the peace of the country”.
“If the Senate will not do that within the next seven days, I will write a letter to the Inspector General of Police to investigate the circumstance leading to the approval of two 2024 Appropriation Acts and bring the culprits to book.
“It is not true that we have two Appropriations. Senator Ningi must be charged to court for conduct likely to cause breach of peace and criminal misinformation,” Ibrahim stated.
Meanwhile, Senator Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has made a U-turn regarding some claims he made regarding the 2024 Appropriation Act.
In a chat with Senate correspondents on Monday, the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, clarified that he never suggested that President Bola Tinubu is implementing two budgets or that he was biased against the North.
He clarified that he stands by his utterance as a Senator and not the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, that it has been established beyond doubt that N25trn was rightly allocated in the budget, citing three parameters (money, project and location) but cannot ascertain the project location for the other N3trn.
The Presidency had on Sunday described as false, a claim by Senator Ningi that the Federal Government is operating two versions of the 2024 budget.
According to a statement by a Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the senator’s claim that the National Assembly passed N25 trillion as the 2024 Budget is false, adding that N28.7 trillion was passed and signed into law by President Tinubu.
The Presidency also described as “far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status”, the claim by Senator Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District, that the 2024 Budget was anti-north.
