John Alechenu, ABUJA
The Senate has given a hint of a possible reprieve for Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), who was handed a three months suspension by his colleagues for alleging that the Upper Chamber “padded“ the 2024 Budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion.
This amount represents more than 10 per cent of the N28.78 trillion budget passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Tinubu.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, gave this hint in a media parley, in Abuja, on Monday.
The Senate Spokesman used the opportunity to state that the suspension of Senator Ningi was a decision taken by 108 out of the 109 Senators whose integrity was subjected to public redicue.
Adaramodu said, “ Yes, there was an infraction occasioned by the actions of our respected colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi which made the Senate in an open public session, where he was given the opportunity to defend himself and for senators to talk on it, debated on it, then at the end of the day it was found that an infraction had really occurred.
“And 109 senators except Senator Ningi now decided that Senator Ningi would be given a light disciplinary declaration which gave him a three month suspension from parliamentary activities.
“So, it is only that 108 senators that took that action that can call Senator Ningi back.
“Yes, like I said, we have been on plenary break for about four weeks. So, when we resume tomorrow, as the case may be, he’s our colleague, if he makes a plea, then the senators will now look at it and then we take it on the merit of it.
“When we were not in the chamber, there have been so many insinuations, they have been a report that a letter has been written by the counsel to Senator Ningi compelling the Senate President to recall Senator Ningi within seven days.
“And then when I was asked a question I said, it’s not a matter of Senator Ningi versus Senator Akpabio. It’s Senator Ningi versus the rest of the senators. So, it is not Senator Akpabio, though our president, that took the action unilaterally and solely to suspend Senator Ningi.
“So it could not behoove on him to be the one who will now answer questions on the actions of all the senators, that all the senators will ask questions on their own behalf by the time we resume the plenary.
“We will resume plenary tomorrow,
so if the matter comes up, either directly or indirectly, either voluntarily or involuntarily, then we sit down together in the chamber and then we look at it on its own merit and consider an action to be taken. That’s what is happening about Senator Ningi’s matter for now.”
In response to a question comparing Ningi’s suspension to that of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the 8th Senate, Adaramodu said there was no basis for comparison.
He said, “I’m not a law court. That’s one. The issue of Senator Omo-Agege and this one are distinctly very different. Secondly, for every organisation, either elected organisation, appointed organisation, or statutory organisation, the Civil Service is statutory organisation, judiciary is statutory organisation, then they have bodies that can discipline members.
“The NJC will sit down if there are complaints about any of the members in the judiciary. They sit down and then they give pronouncements. They are not hampered.
“The Civil Service, that is the Civil Service Commission, Civil Servants are employed statutorily and nobody can tamper with their tenure too.
“But there is Civil Service Commission and they have their own disciplinary arm that when one errs definitely, disciplinary actions can be taken. Now, can we find an organization where there won’t be any discipline?
“Then are we saying that the arm of government that we call the legislature is so deregulated in authority, in action, in operation, in instrumentality of organizational discipline, that when a member now does anything that can imperil either the corporate integrity or individual integrity of that organization they cannot be disciplined? No.
The Senate Spokesman also dismissed speculations that the Senate had pegged the entry age into the nation’s tertiary institutions at 18 years.
He explained that as at today, there was no such legislation. He pointed out that those who nursed such ideas could approach the National Assembly with a bill which would be subjected to the rigors of legislative scrutiny in order to become law.
Adaramodu also urged State governments to take a cue from the federal government by making generous provisions in their Appropriation Acts for agriculture in order to ensure food security.
He commended his colleagues for their commitment to their legislative duties even while observing their break from plenary.
The lawmaker noted that Senators used the period to carry out oversight functions across various sectors of the economy with a view to amiliorating the suffering of Nigerians.
He maintained that the committee on Works visited various road projects while the committee on Petroleum paid similar visits to the nation’s refineries where rehabilitation work has almost been completed.
Source: Vanguard