The Arewa Initiative for the Defence and Promotion of Democracy criticized the Arewa Consultative Forum for following a script in its stance on the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi by the Northern Senators Forum. This was related to the budget padding controversy.
ACF criticized Senate's suspension of Ningi over budget padding claims of N3.7tn.
After investigating and finding out that the quoted amount was for certain agencies, the Senate suspended Ningi for three months.
The AIDPD’s spokesperson, Tasiu Haruna, expressed disagreement with ACF's claims. He stated that the Senate conducted a fair and transparent investigation, allowing the suspended lawmaker to defend himself.
“We have been following Senator Abdul Ningi's allegation about the 2024 budget and the resulting uproar for the past two weeks.
“As Nigerians and Northern leaders, we were troubled by the claim that the budget was unfairly favored the Southern part of the country with N3.7tr.
“During the public hearing by the Senate on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, we observed that Ningi, a senior lawmaker, seemed to be following a script.’’
“The fact that he couldn't counter the claims by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation that the money was for various government-owned enterprises discredited his allegation and should have put an end to the controversy.
“We were shocked and disappointed by the ACF's press statement on the matter. It seems the forum allowed itself to be used for a partisan agenda, becoming an appendage of Ningi’s paymaster, the former vice president.
“Our findings revealed that Ningi fabricated the allegation to support his political godfather, the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who is still upset about the 2023 presidential election defeat,’’ the group said.
