‘Senator Ningi getting hammered for standing up to be the beacon of the truth’, says Bauchi Gov
The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has backed Senator Abdul Ningi after he was slapped with a three-month suspension by the Senate on Tuesday.
The senator representing Bauchi Central senatorial district was suspended by the Senate on Tuesday after alleging that N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget cannot be accounted for.
He later resigned from his position as Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF, in response to the punishment for the leadership of the Senate led by Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Reacting to the suspension of the lawmaker from Bauchi during the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Bauchi, on Wednesday, Mohammed said the development is unfortunate while stressing that Ningi is getting hammered for standing up to be the beacon of the truth.
He said, “Yesterday I was very sad the Senate suspended one of our best from Bauchi for saying the truth, for standing up to be the beacon of the truth.”
Mohammed, who is also the chairman PDP Governors’ Forum, added, “Equally I don’t know what we will do but we will discuss privately to see what we can do to support him because I support whatever he is doing and that is our best position especially if what he saying is the truth.”
The senator in the eye of the storm had repeatedly denied allegations attributed to him in the media regarding the padding of the 2024 budget, stressing that he never said the budget was padded.
Senator Ningi stated, “I have never said somebody was blinded. Secondly, I have never said the budget was padded. Let me concur with about 80 percent of the translation read out by Senator Yayi. I think they have done a fair job, except on some issues they could not understand.”
“The beginning of this brouhaha started with this text. Senator Abdu Ningi is purported to be the author of this document. Let me, for the avoidance of doubt, say that I have never issued a statement of this nature to anybody anywhere and anytime.”
