By Fidel Ozugha
The Senator representing Bauchi Central district, Senator Abdul Ningi has said that the can of worms he has opened in the Red Chambers over the allegation of padding the 2024 budget cannot be controlled anymore.
Speaking on the development when he featured as a guest on Arise New TV immediately after his suspension, the lawmaker alleged that his fellow senators were determined to gag him or at worst get him arrested.
”That is why I said I know this parliament very well. Ihave come a long way. And thatis why we are speaking. Let’s speak. Have they ever asked me since the beginning of this so-called crisis, where are your findings? Where are the documents? I’m not using my head to come up with figures.
”Nobody has talked to me about evidence. Nobody has suggested even listening to me. All they are trying to do is to ensure that ‘how do we make sure that Ningi is silenced or arrested so that he doesn’t do anything?’. I have opened this can of worms. Neither they nor I will be able to control it.”
It would be recalled the Senate slammed a 3-month suspension on Ningi over the allegation that N3.7 trillion was not traceable to any project in the 2024 budget. The allegation was made during an interview he granted to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa over the weekend.
The claim he made was a heavy one not only on the Senate but also on the Executive. It generated a lot of interest. Therefore, Senator Ningi addressed the press on the issue ahead of the next plenary sitting on Tuesday. He said although that he was misrepresented in some quarters but that he stood by what he said and that he was ready to face any consequence thereof.
As expected, when the Senate sat on Tuesday, the issue came up for discussion. Some senators called for Ningi’s suspension. Some said one year. Some settled for six months, and eventually a 3-month suspension was slammed on him.
However, after Distinguished Senator Olamilekan Adeola from Ogun West moved the motion for the issue to be discussed, chaos descended on the Senate as Jaribe Jaribe representing Cross River North district claimed that some senior senators were given N500 million in the budget for constituency projects.
”Let us wash our dirty linen in public. If we want to go into those issues, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, the so called ‘senior senators’ got N500m each. I am a ranking senator, so I didn’t get. Did I go to the press?” he said.
In contribution, the senator representing Edo North and former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole lamented that the Senate has been striped naked in the market place. ”We have been stripped naked in the market place, so we can’t now wrap it up like it’s nothing, The problem of trying to defend a lie is that you have to stick to more lies to defend lies,” he said.
The media has been awash with the issue since it surfaced. Even at pepper soup and popular beer joints, and the like, it has become the topic of discussion.
Neither You Nor Me Can Control The Can Of Worms I’ve Opened, Ningi Tells Akpabio’s Senate
