The Senate has hinted at a possible reconsideration of Senator Abdul Ningi’s suspension, which was imposed after he alleged that the Red Chamber “padded” the 2024 Budget with N3.7 trillion.
Ningi was suspended for three months for claiming during a BBC Hausa Service interview that the National Assembly padded the budget.
Ningi, represented legally by Femi Falana SAN, had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, demanding his recall or facing legal consequences.
In response, Akpabio clarified that Ningi’s suspension was not solely his decision but a collective action by 108 out of 109 senators, who felt their integrity was undermined.
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Speaking during a media parley in Abuja on Monday, the Senate spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu, said Ningi’s case would be considered based on its merits when the Senate reconvened on Tuesday after plenary break.
Adaramodu emphasised that any decision regarding Ningi’s recall would involve the entire Senate during plenary.
He clarified that the suspension was not a unilateral action by Akpabio but a decision taken collectively by 108 senators, excluding Ningi himself.
He said, “109 senators except Senator Ningi now decided that Senator Ningi would be given a light disciplinary declaration which gave him a three-month suspension from parliamentary activities. So, it is only the 108 senators who took that action that can call Senator Ningi back.
“We have been on plenary break for about four weeks. So, when we resume tomorrow (Tuesday), as the case may be, he’s our colleague, if he makes a plea, then the senators will now look at it and then we take it on the merit of it.
“When we were not in the chamber, there have been so many insinuations, there has been a report that a letter has been written by the counsel to Senator Ningi compelling the Senate President to recall Senator Ningi within seven days.
“And then when I was asked a question I said, it’s not a matter of Senator Ningi versus Senator Akpabio. It’s Senator Ningi versus the rest of the senators. So, it is not Senator Akpabio, though our president, who took the action unilaterally and solely to suspend Senator Ningi.”
Adaramodu stated that there is no basis for comparing Senator Abdul Ningi’s suspension to that of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege during the 8th Senate.
