Ningi vs Senate: “Democratic Rascality”, SAN Shares 2 Points of ‘Grave Concern’
- A top lawyer, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has criticised the Nigerian senate for their handling of the budget padding claim
- Legit.ng reports that Okutepa's reaction comes in the wake of the suspension of Bauchi Central Senator, Abdul Ningi, who raised an alarm over the alleged padded projects
- Ningi’s assertion, claiming the insertion of N3.7 trillion for purported non-existent projects, sparked a firestorm within the upper legislative chamber
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Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics and governance in Nigeria.
FCT, Abuja - A senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has thrown his weight behind suspended Senator Abdul Ningi on a N3.7 trillion gap in the 2024 budget presented to the national assembly.
Okutepa made his stance known via a tweet on Thursday morning, March 14.
Source: Twitter
Recall that Ningi, representing Bauchi Central senatorial district was suspended on Tuesday, March 12, by the senate over the allegations that two versions of the 2024 budget were passed at the national assembly.
Ningi, who was also the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by N3.7 trillion and that the North has been neglected under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
On the floor of the Senate, the chairman senate committee on appropriation, Senator Olamilekan Adeola on Tuesday, March 12, moved a motion on breach of privilege and after a debate by federal lawmakers, Ningi was suspended for three months.
But reacting, Okutepa (SAN) stated that "it was a cover-up decision".
The legal practitioner argued that Bauchi indigenes should be the ones to sanction Ningi if he is found wanting — and not the federal lawmakers because he (Ningi) is "not an employee of the senate".
He also noted that "the other point of grave concern is whether the senate who accused the distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi can sit over in judgment to decide and to suspend Senator Abdul Ningi from performing his senatorial duties for the next three months or even for a day".
Okutepa's post on his verified (formerly Twitter), reads in full:
"The Nigerian senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi State for 3 months over allegations of budget padding, which the latter was said to have made over BBC Hausa service.
"In suspending Senator Abdul Ningi from the Senate for the next three months, the Senate relied on and invoked its powers under the senate rules to suspend the distinguished Senator. The manner in which the Senate suspended distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi raises fundamental constitutional questions of grave importance to constitutional democracy. For me, what was on display at the suspension was democratic rascality not rooted in good conscience. It was a cover-up decision.
Read also
"Senate still owe Nigerians clarification": Peter Obi reacts to suspension of Senator Ningi
"First it is important to note that section 63 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, provides that lawmakers of both the senate and the house of representatives are to sit for a period of not less than 181 days in a year. The sitting of senators of the federal republic of Nigeria is a constitutional matter. It is not a matter to be lightly toy with.
"Senator Abdul Ningi is not an employee of the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria. No, he is an employee of the good people of Bauchi Central or whichever part of Bauchi he represents. It is the correct position that only an employer has the power to suspend an employee. In democracy the employers of the representatives of the people are the people themselves and not the institutions the people sent their representatives to represent them.
"The other point of grave concern is whether the senate who accused the distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi can sit over in judgment to decide and to suspend Senator Abdul Ningi from performing his senatorial duties for the next three months or even for a day.
"The allegations of budget padding were against the senate or the senate president. The senate president presided over the proceedings in which Senator Ningi was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three months suspension. Justice, it is said, is rooted in confidence. You can not be a judge in your own cause is a principle of law of considerable antiquity.
"No one it is also said can be the accuser, prosecutor, and judge at the same time. That is what the senate and the senate president have done in the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi. It is against the letter and the spirit of section 36(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
"Perhaps the senate does not want the public to know of the alleged padding. What happened in the senate in the suspension of Senator Ningi is democratic despotism and tyranny. The senate is completely intolerant of accountability and public scrutiny of its actions and inactions.
"The punishment handed down to Sen Abdul Ningi is simply a gang up punishment. But Nigerians want to know what happened that budgets of some institutions are not captured in the budget passed by the national assembly. Nigerians want to know how much constituencies projects were inserted into the budget and who and who gets what. Nigerians want to know what these constituencies projects are and where they are located.
"Most of these so-called constituencies projects exist only on papers. So the suspension of senator Abdul Ningi is unconstitutional and ultra vires the senate in my view.
"Democracy is all about accountability. Nigerians want Nigerian senate to be accountable."
Read more about alleged budget padding:
- Pandemonium at Senate as pressure piles on Akpabio over Sen. Ningi’s budget padding claim
- Alleged budget padding: Akpabio, INEC chair told to resign as fresh protest looms
- Akpabio told to immediately resign amid alleged budget padding accusation, details emerge
‘Largesse’: “I received N266m” Abaribe, Ndume speak
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, said contrary to the claim that some ranking senators received N500 million from the 2024 budget, he had only received N266 million.
The revelation came on the heels of an ongoing controversy over an allegation of budget padding by Senator Ningi.
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Source: Legit.ng
