How 'curiosity' landed Senator Ningi in trouble after paying ₦30m for budget analysis

On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, the Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi over his allegation that the 2024 budget was padded to the tune of ₦3 trillion.

Until his suspension, Ningi, a top-ranking PDP senator representing Bauchi Central was the Chairman of the Northern Governors' Forum (NGF).

The lawmaker tendered his resignation as the chair of the forum shortly after the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, handed him a three-month suspension following his controversial claim on the 2024 budget.

Indeed, the Senate has rules guiding the conduct of lawmakers and in Ningi's case, the upper legislative house did not hesitate to wield the big stick against its erring member.

How it all started

In November 2023, President Bola Tinubu presented a ₦27.5 trillion budget to the National Assembly and one month later, the appropriation bill, tagged the Budget of Renewed Hope was approved by the National Assembly.

Following the approval of the budget, Ningi felt something was amiss and he made a move to find out what could be wrong.

To clear his doubts, he consulted private financial auditors to dissect the budget to unravel the loopholes that might be therein.

Unsettled or excited by the findings of the auditors, Ningi informed his fellow northern lawmaker, Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP) representing Kano South about his damning observations in the budget.

As a high-ranking member of the Senate, he took a step further to intimate some northern senators about his discovery and they decided to meet with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

The meeting with Akpabio

During the meeting, which was held at Akpabio's Guest House, in the Maitama District of Abuja, the northern senators led by Ningi alleged that the budget was padded with over ₦3 trillion.

The lawmakers also claimed that some projects without locations were repeated in the budget, adding that the budget was lopsided to favour the south against the north.

Banking on the findings of his auditors, Ningi confidently alleged that the Senate-approved budget was ₦25tn for the 2024 appropriation, but the one being implemented by the executive is ₦28tn.

According to Akpabio, after the 'revelation', he told Ningi to share full details of his findings with him and he agreed to do so.

Narrating the encounter between him and the northern senators, Akpabio said Ningi and Kawu requested a meeting with him with some colleagues from the northern part of the country and he obliged.

"At that meeting, Senator Aminu Tambuwal was there, Senator Sani Musa was there and a lot of other senators including Senator Abba Moro and many other northern senators.

"He told me that he had paid a consultant ₦30 to unbundle the budget and he also made some allusions here that what was passed by the National Assembly was ₦25tn but what is being operated by the presidency was ₦28tn.

"And when he told me that, I said I would like to see the details. He said some things are repeated in the budget and that the calculations his consultants came up with were ₦25tn and therefore, ₦3.7tn was hanging.

Meanwhile, before the meeting, Northern senators who were privy to Ningi's 'discovery' had warned him not to speak to the press until the matter was addressed in-house.

Unfortunately, the 63-year-old lawmaker from Bauchi ignored his colleagues' warning as he disclosed the purported evidence of budget padding at his disposal in an interview.

According to Akpabio, Ningi did not show him the full details of his discovery before he granted an interview with the BBC Hausa Service.

"I told him that when the full details of his findings are made available, I will equally get a consultant to study it and then we would meet again. Up till now, you've not given me any documents but you were able to attend the BBC interview," Akpabio said.

What Ningi said in his BBC interview

The fallout of the BBC interview marked the beginning of Ningi's trouble with his colleagues as all members of the NGF disowned him and dissociated themselves from the interview.

In the interview, the senator alleged that after the National Assembly had passed the 2024 budget, some people secretly prepared another budget and padded it with over ₦3tn.

"For the last three months, we have employed private financial auditors to extensively examine the 2024 budget. We have uncovered significant unauthorized changes and additions in the budget that would have a widespread negative impact on the nation as a whole.

"We are supposed to meet with the senate president and show him the irregularities we saw in the budget and let him know our concerns. We will not agree and support spending money on what we are not aware of. Because apart from the budget National Assembly passed, some people went behind our back and prepared another budget we are not aware of. There were inclusions we don't know about, but our experts are still working on it.

"For example, we had a budget of ₦28 trillion but after our thorough checks we found out that it was a budget of ₦25 trillion. How and where did we get the additional ₦3 trillion from, what are we spending it for?"

Ningi's revelation cast aspersions on the integrity of the Nigerian Senate as the controversy presented the red chamber as a corrupt and self-centred entity that does not care about the plight of Nigerians despite the lingering economic hardship citizens endure.

Ningi's ignominious suspension

However, during the Senate's plenary on Tuesday, Senator Olamilekan Adeola representing Ogun West moved a motion against Ningi over his interview with the BBC.

Contrary to Ningi's claim, Adeola explained that the Presidency proposed a total of ₦27.5 trillion budget but after a series of deliberations, the lawmakers increased it to ₦28.77 trillion, which he said was unanimously approved on December 30, 2023.

He said his colleagues added ₦1.2 trillion to the budget due to the request for additional funding for some items of expenditure which originally were not included in the bill.

To save the integrity of the red chamber, the Ogun senator urged the Senate to "take appropriate action deemed fit in the overriding public interest and as a matter of urgent public importance to prevent a breakdown of law and order."

He also urged the Senate to take "necessary steps to correct the wrong impression" created by the BBC and Ningi on the 2024 budget.

After a series of deliberations, Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, urged the Senate to sanction Ningi for 'deliberately lying' against the National Assembly.

Corroborating his stance, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, the senator representing Ondo South, moved a motion that Ningi be suspended for 12 months. He also proposed that his entitlements and privileges be suspended as well.

But Senator Chris Ekpeyong, representing Akwa-Ibom North-West, in his motion of amendment moved that the suspension of the erring lawmaker be reduced to six months.

Ekpeyon's motion was followed by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari's plea that the Senate should reduce his suspension to three months.

Buhari's submission was supported by Senator Sani Musa, and after putting the amended motion to a voice vote, the Senate President announced Ningi's suspension from the House for three months.