The manner Senator Abdul Ningi representing Bauchi Central in the Senate was suspended by the Senate is ‘fishy’, and smacks of ‘a cover-up’.
Former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye, stated this in Enugu on Monday while speaking on the development.
Nwoye, a lawyer, said the condemnation of Ningi’s suspension by the Arewa Consultative Forum was also right.
Advertisement
In his words, “Arewa Consultative Forum is right in condemning the manner Senator Ningi was suspended. You don’t just suspend a senator for making a statement. It smacks of a cover-up.
“The rest of Nigeria is left to wonder. He is therefore made to be a snitch, and thrown out so that the rest of the senators can continue with their business-as-usual-thing.
“Is the public not supposed to know the truth about the allegation? It is a fact that most constituency projects end up on billboards.
“Ningi’s allegation of the inclusion of about N3.5trn unattached to the budget calls for transparent handling. It smells fishy.”
Recall that the Arewa Consultative Forum on Saturday condemned Ningi’s suspension. The group in a statement said rather than hurriedly suspending Ningi, the Senate would have done a thorough investigation of the allegation through assigning a statutory or ad-hoc committee of the Senate to investigate it.
In the statement entitled, “ACF regrets suspension of Senator Ningi from 10th Senate”, the pan-Northern group said the process appeared “nimbly rushed, with concerns looking more at the messenger rather than his message”.
The group said, “Rather than the route of a rushed suspension of Senator Ningi, ACF prefers a thorough investigation of the allegation by some statutory or ad-hoc committee of the Senate”, and regretted that “Bauchi Central will be without representation in the 10th Senate for the three months.”