As the political tensions generated following the suspension of Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi settles down, a coalition of CSOs has commended the Senate President Godswill Akpabio for acting fairly and firmly to restore public order and discipline in the Senate.
The CSOs: Rising-Up for a United Nigeria (RUN), Guardians of Democracy and Development (GODD) and Partners for a Legislative Agenda for Nigeria (PLAN)), with interest in monitoring political developments and policies across the country, called on senators to eschew divisive tendencies and support the Senate president in the discharge of his duties for the overall development of the country.
Their appeal came after media reports indicated that some interest groups in the north have begun moves to agitate and protest the suspension of Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District over the claims he made in his Senate budget padding allegation.
In a press statement signed by the trio of Ambassador Solomon Adodo, Mallam Suleiman Musa and G. C. Oluoha, the conveners of RUN, GODD and PLAN respectively, the coalition cautioned against the existence of splinter groups and blocks in the Senate which are to say the least detrimental to unity in the Red Chambers and Nigeria at large, with a call for their immediate disbandment.
They said, „The Senate is the highest legislative body in Nigeria. The presence of blocks such as the Northern Nigeria Senators‘ Forum which Ningi chaired before his uncharitable outing is nothing but a divisive body that should be scrapped. The Senate should not be about North and South.
It cannot afford to allow factions and parochial interest groups to dominate its ranks especially now that the country needs unity to survive more than anything else.
„The agitations from interest groups with their varied threats and hate against the no-nonsense personality of the Senate President makes bare the insidious motives of these blocks. The fact that Senator Ningi spoke on behalf of the Northern Senators‘ forum, alleging a plot against the North speaks for itself. What Senator Ningi did actually went beyond the bounds of his legislative office and duties. He deserves the suspension and no group should try to intimidate the Senate and indeed Nigerians“.
On the issue of budget padding which was unanimously and roundly debunked for lack of facts to back up Senator Ningi‘s claims, the Coalition observed that, as a Senator, Ningi had no moral justification to attack a budget he actively participated in its passage.
„The 2024 budget was passed on the floor of the Senate, in the presence of all Senators and the Media. There was nothing like budget padding. The fact that Ningi who is now playing the ostrich was actually present when the budget was passed has come to expose the barefaced lie of a possible padding. Why didn‘t Ningi raise objections on the floor of the Senate as to his suspicions whilst the budget was being deliberated upon? Why did he not approach the Senate Committee on Appropriation to table his complaint rather than going to the press to make his bogus accusations which he has now denounced?“ the statement queried.
