Budget padding: CSO threatens mass protest against Akpabio

A Civil Society Organisation, (CSO), National Association For Peaceful Coexistence and Good Governance has threatened to organise a massive protest against the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio over the recent allegation of budget padding levelled against him by senator representing Bauchi central Abdul Ningi.

Founder of the group, Comrade Isiaku Balogun Nathaniel, said the matter would not be swept under the carpet and urged President Bola Tinubu to probe Ningi’s allegations and the leadership of the Senate to make clarification and reinstate the suspended senator within one week.

“We are giving them seven days’ notice from today (to do the needful). We are going to barricade the National Assembly to call for transparency and accountability because Nigerians want to know what the senators are using N3.7 trillion to do,” he said.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that Ningi had alleged that the Senate padded the 2024 federal government’s budget by over N3.7trn, which triggered rumbles in the red chamber of the National Assembly, leading to the senator’s suspension for three months.

• SERAP sues Akpabio over Ningi, refers ‘budget padding’ to EFCC, ICPC
• Sen Ningi: Your enduring principles will not be forgotten

He said the group will mobilise Nigerian youths to stage massive protests in the nation’s capital if their demand is unheeded.

He said Ningi’s revelation was in the best interest of the nation, describing his suspension as a witch-hunt and unfair to his constituency “that now lacks representation in the Senate.”