Group condemn northern senators over silence on Ningi’s suspension 

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The Arewa Defence League (ADL), has condemned Northern Senators Forum (NSF), for its continued silence over the unjust suspension of the forum’s former chairman, Senator Abdul Ningi.
Ningi who represents Bauchi senatorial zone was suspended by the senate on March 12, 2024, for three months following his allegations that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget.
In a statement on Tuesday in Kaduna, President of the ADL,
Murtala Abubakar, said the silince of Northern senators on the matter was unfortunate.
Abubakar said “revelations by Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, that some ranking senators got N500m each in the budget is a pointer.”
He said, “the revelations thus far, that Akpabio got more than N21 billion inserted into the budget as constituency project for himself alone is also a revealing pointer that Senator Ningi must have ruffled bad feathers.”
The group argued that Ningi did nothing wrong, noting that few days after his suspension “which was speedily carried with alot of parliamentary illogic, BudgiT came out with indepth fact and figures, justifying Senator Ningi’s claim.”
Abubakar said that “BudgiT did not only vindicated Senator Ningi, but gave a breakdown of finances over N3 trillion in the passed and signed 2024 budget that have no outlined projects or programmes”.
The statement said, “While the suspension of Ningi may be viewed as internal issues of the National Assembly, the pronouncement of senators like Opeyemi Bamidele and Jimoh Ibrahim, a first time senator who tried to ethno-regionalise the issue by setting the North against the south, and Jimoh Ibrahim, leaves alot to be desired as worrisome and myopic as they sounded.”
The group lamented that, “With all the woes of insecurity, banditry, kidnapping for ransom among several set backs that Northern Nigeria experiences today, the NSF should have been more concerned about a lopsided budget and use their number to influence more for the region.”
Abubakar called on President Bola Tinubu “to, like late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and former President Muhammadu Buhari, speak out and distance himself from the Senate insertions and budget padding.”
The group called on Northern senators to live up to the expectations of their constituent many of who are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their own homes and daily facing economic and security challenges.
The group urged Akpabio to see himself as a national figure by virtue of his position as the President of the Senate and chairman of the National Assembly.

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