The Co-Founder of civic group Budgit, Seun Onigbinde has stated that Senator Abdul Ningi was right about his claims that there was no detailed project allocations for about N3.7trn of the N28.78trn 2024 Appropriation Act.

Onigbinde stated this during a guest appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.

However, he insisted that it was not true that Nigeria was running two concurrent budget

“There should be a detailed breakdown of the budget. On that point, Senator Ningi is right but to say that we are running two parallel budgets, I don’t think that is factual,” he said.

Recall that Ningi, had resigned as Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, after he was suspended by his colleagues in the red chamber on Tuesday over budget padding allegations.

Onigbinde said as the rowdy session by Senate was ongoing, the Budgit team fact-checked claims by Ningi.

According to him, “As the Senate rowdy session was going on, we were also fact-checking and one of the things we found out is that we were not able to lay hold to the claim by Senator Ningi. A budget of N28.7trn was passed into law and we were not able to see where N3.7trn (was missing).

“Historically, there are items in the budget that don’t have breakdown like statutory transfers but that does not means there is a certain level of capital projects by the Federal Government that was appropriated and does not have a breakdown.”

He said the entire capital project was around N9trn in the 2024 Appropriation Act signed into law by President Bola Tinubu after the bill was reviewed upward from N27.5trn to N28.78trn.

“The budget we have now have the ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) and the government-owned enterprise budget.

“Around N2trn of the budget presented by the President is the government-owned enterprises budget. So, if Senator Ningi says there is a N25trn budget, yes, that is the MDA’s budget. It’s different from the government-owned enterprises budget whose budget was now added.

“It is factual that he says that but it doesn’t mean that we are running two concurrent budgets. There is a different conversation that those projects should be detailed. TETFUND should not just get an allocation. What are you spending money on? INEC is collecting huge chunk of funds but there is no public details about what the funds are used for.

“In the current budget, the National Assembly gave a very broad summary of its allocations but they are no detailed allocations on a granular level that everybody can understand.

“These are transparent issues and if you put all these together, that is around N3.5trn to N3.7trn. So, if that is what he (Ningi) wants to interrogate, that there are component of the budget where there are no breakdown, that is very factual,” he added

The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has denied being served with an impeachment notice from the state House of Assembly.

Recall that the Speaker of the assembly, Hon Blessing Agbebaku, during plenary on Monday, said the inability of the House to physically serve Shaibu led to a substituted service through an advertorial in the newspaper.

However, in a letter dated March 12, 2024, and addressed to the speaker, signed by his Personal Assistant, Charles Olubayo, the deputy governor said he was never served any letter let alone refusing to collect.

Shaibu asserted that he has been out of the state since March 3rd and therefore could not have been served as claimed during plenary.

The letter reads, “The Office of the Deputy Governor, Edo State wishes to draw your attention to the inaccuracies and misleading information that emanated from the plenary session of Monday, March 11, 2024, wherein Mr. Speaker directed that the impeachment notice be served on the deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu through newspaper publications The Nigeria Observer and other national dailies, “sequel to the refusal of the deputy governor to acknowledge the impeachment notice”.

“Mr. Speaker was quoted to have also stated at the said plenary that ‘the action became necessary because the deputy governor refused to acknowledge an earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the clerk of the House.’

“We wish to state categorically that: No impeachment notice was ever served on the Deputy Governor let alone refusing to acknowledge the impeachment notice.

“The deputy governor has since March 3, 2024 travelled out of Benin to Abuja and has not returned to Benin since the said March 3, 2024.

“The clerk never saw the deputy governor whether in the office, at home or anywhere for that matter since the said date; hence surprised that the House resolved to publish the impeachment notice in the Observer and other national dailies because ‘the deputy governor refused to acknowledge the earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the clerk of the House.’ One therefore wonders where the clerk or his appointee served him the impeachment notice and he refused to acknowledge it.

“That neither the Clerk nor any person sent impeachment notice to the Deputy Governor which he refused to acknowledge.

“It is therefore our prayer that Mr. Speaker corrects the impression created in the public as the outcome of yesterday’s plenary to avoid misrepresentation in this all-important matter.”

The Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday, suspended the lawmaker representing Bauchi Central in the National Assembly, Abdul Ningi, for three months.

Senate Ningi was suspended after about three hours of debate over his interview in which he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded with N3.7 trillion.

Ningi had, in the interview on Saturday, alleged that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year is N25tn while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7tn.

After a backlash, Ningi, at a press conference on Monday, recanted some of his words but insisted that N3tn was left unaccounted for in the 2024 budget.

Below are quick twelve facts to know about Senator Ningi.

1. Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi was born in Bauchi, Nigeria on 20 April 1960 (age 63).

2. He attended Ningi East Primary School (1969–1973).

3. Ningi went to Government Secondary School, Misau, in 1978.

4. He enrolled at the Bauchi College of Art and Sciences for a 2-year pre-degree program.

5. He earned his B.Sc. in Sociology from Ahmadu Bello University in 1983, becoming the first in his family to attend university.

6. Abdul Ningi and his wife were married in 1982, and live in Ningi, Bauchi. They have five children.

7. In 1996, Abdul Ningi contested for the Bauchi State assembly under the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and won, but the Abacha-led government cancelled the election.

8. In 2007, Ningi was elected into the Senate under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform and was later removed by the tribunal.

9. In 2008, the appeal court reinstated Abdul Ningi as the rightful winner of the April 2007 Senatorial election.

10. He served as the Chairman Senate Ad-hoc committee on the Niger Delta crisis, where his input helped in developing the Amnesty program that resolved the Niger Delta militancy.

11. On 12th March, 2024, the Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi over allegations of N3.7 trillion padding of the 2024 budget.

12. A few hours after his suspension, Senator Abdul Ningi resigned as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum.

The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has continued to express worries amid rising hardship occasioned by the continued spike in commodity prices.

Naija News reports that Obi, in a post on his official X account on Wednesday, worried that many Nigerians now spend all their income on food alone. The former Anambra Governor, who referenced the hunger index forecast, lamented that the situation was becoming very complex.

He further called on the Nigerian government to ensure the security of farmers in the country and give them adequate support to increase food production.

Obi’s statement read, “I was alarmed when, in January 2023, the Cadre Harmonisé, a UNICEF publication, indicated that nearly 25 million Nigerians were at risk of facing hunger between June and August 2023 if urgent actions were not taken.

“I was very concerned and worried like every other Nigerian and I then called on the government of the day to take urgent steps and stem the tide of impending hunger in the nation. By the end of 2023, around 26.5 million Nigerians were then reported to be at risk of hunger in the nation. By the end of 2023, around 26.5 million Nigerians were then reported to be at risk of hunger in 2024, which was still of grave concern to Nigerians.

“It is saddening again to note that the same publication, Cadre Harmonisé is again warning that more Nigerians, to the tune of 31.5 million, are at risk of acute hunger and serious food insecurity between June and August 2024.

“The situation has now become more complex with the high cost of living and high inflation rate which pervades our economy. Today, with our ranking of 109 out of 125 countries measured on the Global Hunger Index, Nigeria is considered among the 20 hungriest nations in the world.

“Many Nigerian households now spend almost all their income on food alone, leaving all other family expenses to anyone’s imagination. I have consistently maintained that the surest way to fight hunger in Nigeria is by moving our nation from consumption to production, which entails aggressive investment in agriculture by fully exploring and cultivating the vast arable lands mostly in the Northern parts of the country.

“Now that we have been given notice of the impending danger – the additional number of Nigerians that will face hunger by June this year, I strongly urge that we work hard and put in place measures that will help us to avert it. We must take urgent steps to boost food production in the country to defeat the rising hunger, and attendant anger in the nation.

“With the high level of insecurity and terror attacks in many parts of the country hindering farmers from their agricultural activities, and management of our monetary policies impacting negatively on small businesses in the agricultural sector, the government must secure the farmers and give them adequate support for increased food production. Building a productive Nigeria remains our focus in the New Nigeria which is possible.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Kaduna state chapter has appealed to political leaders and citizens to embrace liberality against greed, which according to the organisation, is a silent menace killing the country.

The CAN Chairman, Kaduna state Rev. Caleb Ma’aji made the appeal in Kaduna, on the occasion of his 54th birthday anniversary, saying Nigeria is blessed with everything and has no reason to suffer.

Rev. Ma’aji who lamented over the state of the country asserted that Nigeria has been plunged into the current economic realities on the ground of greed, adding that both leaders and the downtrodden are fighting for their personal gain without minding the implication of their actions on the destiny of others.

Speaking on the need for Nigerians to retrace their steps back to God and the good old days where everybody lived together as family, the CAN chairman remarked that life is transient and as such people must learn to live their life with eternity in view so as to have a glorious end.

“One thing I know is that life is transient, life is temporal. But even though this life is transient, it is an opportunity for us to prepare ourselves for eternity. We must live as wise people especially as we grow older. Our life should be tailored through meeting with our creator which obviously every man must come face to face with Him.

“God has so much blessed and chosen Nigeria. He has blessed us with everything we need both human, materials, resources and even immaterial but it is utilizing it inappropriately and wrongly that is causing us the pains that we are going through today.

“There is no fear of God in the lives of the leaders and there is equally greed on the path of followership. When God is not allowed to be in the centre of everything that has to do with us and our lives, we are certainly prone to have crisis, chaos and suffering.

“When leadership leads with the fear of God and the followers also follow with the fear of God, that is when we will have progress and with every sense of sincerity, the better for all of us. But when everybody is just fighting for their own, then Nigerians are bound to suffer.

“The leadership of this country must have the fear of God because the way they live, one day they will be accountable to God. Life, power and position are all transient. They all come and with time, they will go away but one thing is sure, the accountability to God is unshakable, we cannot compromise it and we cannot negotiate it,” The cleric said.

Bauchi Central Senator, Abdul Ningi, has relinquished his position as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum.

His decision to step down comes in the wake of his suspension by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, amidst allegations of budget padding.

In his resignation letter, Ningi cited the unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North, and the nation at large as the basis for his decision. In a letter personally signed by him and addressed to the forum secretary, he stated, “I will like to resign as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum. This is, of course, necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North, and the Nation at large.”

He continued, expressing gratitude to the members of the forum for entrusting him with the leadership role for the past eight months. “I believe this forum is very important and fundamental to the progress of northern Nigeria,” he added.

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Senate President Godswill Akpabio says claims of budget padding made by Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central, have put the integrity of the red chamber at risk.

The senate plenary on Tuesday turned into a rowdy session over Ningi’s allegation that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion.

Over the weekend, Ningi alleged that “huge damage” has been done to the entire country through the budget.

The lawmaker further alleged that “apart from what the national assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.”

Speaking during an open session, Akpabio said the senate has lost the respect of the citizens due to the unverifiable statement made by the senator.

“Nigerians are bashing the senate. Many Nigerians will never in future come back to respect this chamber. The integrity of this chamber has been damaged and we wanted you to repair it with your speech,” the senate president said.

“Instead of that, you said you have more documents to prove what you are saying. This thing is in the public glare. I am still waiting to receive full details up to this moment. If you had given me full details, I would have known what you know.

“So far, what you know is only known to you, it is not known to anyone else. I don’t know how you rushed to the press carrying different versions. The social media is very fast. From Canada, the United States, everywhere, the story was budget padding by the senate.”

Meanwhile, the senate has suspended Ningi for three months after a motion on privilege moved by Solomon Adeola, senator representing Ogun west.

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun has raised an alarm about potential attacks on schools and rural farm communities in the state.

According to the governor, there are intelligence reports indicating a deliberate mobilization of criminal elements for attacks on rural areas.

According to Adeleke, the attackers aim to disrupt farming activities through kidnappings and assaults on rural farm settlements.

In a statement by his spokesperson, Malam Olawale Rasheed, Governor Adeleke disclosed that schools are being targeted with abductions and attacks.

To address the security concerns, Adeleke announced that a meeting of the state security council had been convened.

He also issued preliminary directives to school authorities to enhance the safety of pupils and students.

“The Ministry of Education and all educational agencies have been ordered to review safety measures in Osun schools in line with the safe school initiative.

“In specific terms, school principals and heads are expected to clear overgrown weeds in school environments and ensure close liaison with the Parents and Teachers Association to secure their school environments,” he said.

He said the state is peaceful and would not succumb to attempts to destabilise the peace and harmony among the people.

“No stone will be left unturned to disrupt plans of enemies of progress to plunge the state into crisis.

“I urge members of the public to inform security agencies of any unusual movements or activities across the state,” he added.

The Abia state government has rescued 16 pregnant girls from a baby factory in Aba.

This was revealed by the First Lady of the state, Priscilla C Otti, via a post on X.

Expressing deep concern, the First Lady conveyed her sadness over the discovery.

She strongly condemned the heinous act of profiting from innocent girls and reiterated her commitment to safeguarding the Abia girl-child from violence and exploitation.

Her words: ”I was deeply saddened by the recent discovery of a baby factory in Aba, where approximately 16 pregnant girls were rescued.

”It’s particularly disheartening that this occurred on International Women’s Day, a day when we celebrate the invaluable contributions of women in Abia state.

”I am determined to safeguard the Abia girl-child from violence and exploitation, and I strongly condemn the heinous act of profiting from innocent girls.

”This barbaric practice endangers the lives and well-being of these girls, exposing them to serious health hazards including HIV and other STDs.

”Our findings indicate that unemployment, lack of education, and poverty are contributing factors to this tragedy.

”I reaffirm my commitment to empowering vulnerable girls, especially those recently rescued, through skills acquisition programs.

”Rest assured, all perpetrators will be brought to justice. Let’s unite as Abians to eradicate this despicable practice and ensure the safety and dignity of our girls.”

Nigerian Army troops say they have uncovered and neutralized a major firearms and drone manufacturing factory allegedly operated by the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

According to Army spokesman, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, the factory was located at Onicha Ulona in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State.

He said the troops faced stiff resistance upon raiding the facility but managed to overpower the armed fighters in a fierce firefight.

Nwachukwu said two of the fighters were neutralized, and a substantial cache of arms and ammunition was recovered.

”Items captured by the troops include, a wide range of IPOB/ESN firearms, ammunition, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and a drone manufacturing factory.

”Other items recovered are a variety of weapons, drones under construction, with prototypes, Improvised Explosive Device materials, a fully equipped workshop, and several power generating sets.

”Troops also apprehended four male and two female fighters during the operation,” he stated.

He assured members of the public of the troops’ unalloyed commitment to dismantling terrorists’ and insurgents’ networks.

”We urge the public to continue to support the Nigerian Army and other security agencies as they strive to restore peace and stability in the country,” he concluded