The dust raised by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP- Bauchi Central) on the 2024 budget has finally been laid to rest with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's statement on the matter during an iftar with the leadership of the Senate on Thursday night.
Ningi had in a BBC Hausa Service interview, alleged that this year's budget was padded to the tune of N3.7 trillion by his colleagues.
During its plenary on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, the Senate investigated Ningi's allegation. Various speakers, cutting across the North and South, including the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Olamilekan, said the amount quoted by the embattled lawmaker was for agencies under the first-line charge.
The Senate's investigative hearing which was aired live on the NASSTV and other television stations would have laid to rest the controversy, however, the backers and promoters of it turned it into a fight between the North and the South and a plot to oust the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
However, the statement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has punctured the claims of Ningi and ended their game plan.
During the iftar, President Tinubu told the leadership of the Senate that the integrity of the National Assembly must remain intact and that his administration will always encourage cooperation for the nation's advancement.
"I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back. I appreciate all of you for the expeditious handling of the budget. Thank you very much.
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"Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought. But your integrity is intact.
"Light is at the end of the tunnel, and Nigerians will soon smile again," the president said.
With the president's assertion on the budget, it is expected that Ningi and his cohorts would retrace their steps and join forces with the parliament under the able leadership of Godswill Akpabio to provide the necessary legislative support for the actualization of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
More than ever before, the country needs the cooperation and collaboration of all and sundry to surmount the challenges of economy and security to return to the path of progress and prosperity.
Since there is a window for Ningi, he should hastily tender an apology to the Senate to return to the Senate. And sin no more. He should return the script handed over to him by his godfather/paymaster, a perennial presidential contender so that he can concentrate on representing the good people of Bauchi Central Senatorial District.
The fight is not for the advancement of the interest of the North but an agenda of those who were defeated in the 2023 presidential election and on June 13, last year, during the election of the Senate.
Therefore, all are advised to disregard the antics of the perpetual losers who are yet to come out of the defeat they suffered in the previous elections.
Tasi'u Haruna, is the spokesman of the Arewa Initiative for the Defense and Promotion of Democracy (AIDPD)
