Suspension of Ningi: Senate Chamber of Shame Accused of Massive Treasury Theft in Nigeria — Arewa Group

The Nigerian Senate has been under fire from the Arewa Movement for Good Governance (AM2G), a group based in the north, which claims that the Senate’s leadership is complicit in the widespread stealing of the nation’s funds.

The accusation follows Senator Abdul Ningi’s suspension due to claims that he inflated the 2024 budget by N3.7 trillion.

The group’s convener, Dr. Usman Bugaje, a former member of the House of Representatives, expressed concerns during a news conference, claiming that Ningi’s suspension was unfair without a full investigation.

Bugaje underlined the significance of accountability and openness in governance, emphasizing the necessity for elected leaders to prove their innocence to the general public.

Further criticizing the nation’s democratic status, Bugaje claimed that the current National Assembly hinders progress and upholds poverty and marginalization of Nigerians.

“The National Assembly is complicit in the widespread looting of the public coffers that has evolved into the budgetary process,” he declared.

Nigerians, in the meantime, live in poverty and marginalization, fighting for survival with no chance of betterment.

“Now, we can see why we spent billions of dollars in electricity without a substantial increase in megawatts of electricity, and the culprits are going scot-free; why our economy has been shrinking and ending up in shambles; why our youths cannot find jobs; why our country is on this dangerous trajectory, heading for the rocks; and why this country, under this rogue politics, has no future at all.”

“Suspension of Senator Ningi appears to be a panic measure that violates the principles of representation in a democracy. It is clearly an evasive move to distract attention from the issues raised.

“It is also unfair for an issue of this magnitude to be swept under the carpet without a thorough investigation to prove beyond doubts to the Nigerian public, who ostensibly elected these senators to represent them that the senators are not culpable.

“From the video clips shown by the media covering the NASS, we found it intriguing that after the suspension, and as Ningi was walking out of the chamber with the heap of evidence in his hands, no senator appeared to show any compunction.

“This suggests a conspiracy of silence in the supposedly hallowed chamber, or is it a chamber of shame? It apparently did not occur to the Senate that they were judges in their own court, or worse still, they were the prosecutors and the jury at the same time,” he added.