Members of the Arewa Initiative for the Defence and Promotion of Democracy (AIDPD) have berated the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) over its stance on the three-month suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi.
Recall that the ACF had condemned the Senate for suspending Ningi over his allegations aired on the BBC Hausa Service where he claimed that the 2024 Appropriation Act was jacked up by N3.7 trillion.
Reacting to ACF’s stance, AIDPD’s spokesperson, Tasiu Haruna, insisted that there was nothing wrong with the senate’s verdict.
They argued that the red chamber conducted a fair and transparent investigation on the matter.
The group opined that Ningi was given the opportunity to defend himself at plenary last week.
Haruna said, “In the last two weeks, we have followed the allegation by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central on the 2024 budget and the uproar trailing it.
As Nigerians and Northern leaders, we were miffed and worried over the allegation that the budget was padded and skewed in favour of the Southern part of the country to the tune of N3.7 trillion.
On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, during the public and live investigative hearing of the Senate, we observed that Ningi, a ranking lawmaker, was acting a script.
His inability to counter the claims by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation that the money was budgetary provisions for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Judicial Council (NJC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), National Assembly, Public Complaints Commission, North East Development Commission (NEDC), and other government-owned enterprises, deflated his allegation and should have laid to rest the controversy.
However, we were shocked and disappointed when the spokesman of the ACF, Prof. Tukur Baba, issued a press statement on the matter.
Unfortunately, the Forum allow itself to be used for a partisan agenda. The forum seems to have become the appendage of the political machinery paymaster.”
