Ningi resumes plenary after recall from suspension

Bauchi Central senator, Abdul Ningi, on Tuesday, resumed plenary five days after he was recalled from suspension.

Mr Ningi, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was sighted entering the Red Chamber at 10:40 a.m. He took his seat after exchanging pleasantries with some of his colleagues.

Ningi’s Suspension

Mr Ningi was suspended on 12 March for three months but was recalled last week by the Senate following a motion by Minority Leader, Abba Moro (PDP, Benue), on behalf of the minority caucus.

He had accused the leadership of the upper chamber of illegally inserting projects worth N3 trillion in the 2024 budget.

The lawmaker said he sought the services of a private auditor to review the budget and discovered some projects that did not have locations.

PREMIUM TIMES reviewed Mr. Ningi’s documenr and found some of them to be true.

This newspaper reviewed the proposed 2024 budget, the approved budget, and the senator’s document, which he used as reference, and discovered several projects worth billions of naira without specific locations and proper descriptions.

At the time he made the allegation, Mr. Ningi was the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF). He resigned from the position over the matter.

In March, the senator wrote a letter through his lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to the Senate, demanding his reinstatement.

In the letter, Mr. Ningi gave a seven-day ultimatum to the Senate leadership to reinstate him or risk legal action.

The senator said he would not hesitate to report the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee if the Senate leadership refused to lift his suspension within seven days.

The Senate however ignored his demand.