Senator Ningi Resigns as Chairman of NSF Amid Budget Padding Allegations

Senator Abdul Ningi has tendered his resignation letter as the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF, following the allegations of N3.7 trillion 2024 budget padding by the 10th Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Prior to his resignation, members of the NSF had maintained their stance to suspend Ningi for false allegations to the Senate President and Bola Ahmed Tinbu.

However, in a letter dated 11th of March 2024, Senator Ningi submitted his resignation as chairman of NSF, an action outlined in the letter as “Necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North, and Nigeria at large.”

Senator Ningi who has spearheaded the NSF for eight months in the last 24 hours maintained his findings to have revealed the discrepancies in the 2024 Appropriation bill signed by the National Assembly.

We have established beyond reasonable doubt, that there is a nexus in the 25 trillion connected to projects and locations, but 3 trillion of the budget were not connected to any projects or locations, he stated.

Furthermore, speaking to the press, he also expressed that the purpose of the observation, as pointed out, was to correct the anomaly in the now-signed appropriated bill, as earlier reported.

Part of the padded budget which according to the Senator has no projects or location allotted remains unfound, yet the Presidency had only debunked it without lifting the proper burden of proof.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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