Senator Sunday Steve Karimi, a member of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF and chairman of the Senate Services, Committee on Monday, tackled his colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi over his budget padding claims.
OsunDailyNG recalls that Senator Ningi, who is the Chairman of Northern Senators’ Forum, had during an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, on Saturday, alleged that the Federal Government was operating a budget different from the one passed by the National Assembly.
According to him, the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as a 2024 budget and not the N28.7 trillion that is being implemented by the FG.
In a press conference on Monday, Ningi insisted that N3.7trillion in the 2024 budget was not tied to any project.
Reacting, Senator Karimi in a statement on Monday asked Ningi to at least fear God and say the truth, even if he is not afraid of being suspended by the House.
“I advise Senator Ningi to at least fear God if he is not afraid of suspension. He spoke for the NSF and not for himself even though nobody authorized him in the NSF to lie against the Senate,” he said.
Karimi maintained that Senator Ningi was “up to mischief” because when they met the Senate President, Akpabio requested that they should bring the report so that he would set up a committee to find out if there was anything like that.
“We went to the Senate President as members of the NSF, but since he is on a mission of self-destruction, Senator Ningi decided to go to the media instead of bringing the report to the Senate President to set up a committee to authenticate the veracity of the claims.”
