Senator Agom Jarigbe (PDP, Cross River North) has alleged that some high-ranking senators got N500 million for constituency projects from the 2024 budget.
Jarigbe stated this on Tuesday in reaction to the controversy over Senator Abdul Ningi’s claim that the Senate added N3.7 trillion to the 2024 budget for constituency projects which cannot be verified.
Ningi had said in a BBC Hausa interview that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year was N25 trillion while the one being implemented by the Federal Government is N28.7 trillion.
The Senate experienced a rowdy session on Tuesday after the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Olamileken Adeola (APC, Ogun West), called on the lawmakers to take action against Ningi, accusing him of breach of privilege.
Jarigbe said no senator has the right to criticise Ningi for his statement, accusing senior senators of being unfair.
“All of us are culpable. Some so-called senior senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 budget, I am a ranking senator I didn’t get anything,” he said.
Senator Ningi denies accusing Tinubu of implementing two budgets
On Monday, Ningi (PDP-Bauchi Central) denied saying President Bola Tinubu was operating two different budgets for 2024.
He said, “At no time did I say Bola Tinubu is implementing two budgets. There was no time. At no time did I say Bola Tinubu was biased against the north.
“At no time did I say Bola Tinubu is implementing N25 trillion budget. There is no way I will talk about N25 trillion and N28 trillion.”
Reacting to Ningi’s interview on Sunday in Abuja, the Presidency dismissed his claims as unfortunate, coming from a high-ranking senator.
The Senate has now suspended Ningi for three months.
