Abdul Ningi, the senator representing Bauchi Central, has given Senate President Godswill Akpabio a seven-day ultimatum to lift his suspension from the upper legislative chamber.
Through his legal representative, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Ningi communicated with the Senate President, requesting the removal of the current suspension on him within seven days, failing which he threatened to take the matter to the Federal High Court.
On March 12, the Senate decided to suspend Ningi for a period of three months due to his statement alleging that the 2024 budget had been inflated by N3.7 trillion, a development that sparked a national outrage.
In the letter, Falana wrote: “On March 9, 2024, our client granted an interview to the BBC Hausa Service on the 2024 Appropriation Act.
“He expressed his views on the budget of the Federal Government in the exercise of his fundamental right to freedom of speech guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
“Dissatisfied with the interview, you caused our client to be put on trial before the Senate on March 14, 2024, contrary to the provisions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2018.”
Persecondnews recalls that Ningi asserted in an interview that the Federal Government is running two versions of the 2024 budget and that President Bola Tinubu skewed the N28.7 trillion budget against the North.
Many Senators and the Presidency had pounced on Ningi, describing his claims as “far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status.”
Later, Ningi refuted the claim that the country operates two budgets, but he insisted that only N25 trillion of the budget, or N3.7 trillion, had any projects attached to it.
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