Ningi’s Suspension: Senate Would Have Acted Differently If I Were Presiding Officer – Abaribe

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South senatorial district has reacted to the drama that played out in the Senate yesterday.

Speaking on Wednesday, he stated that he would have handled the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi if he were the presiding officer of the Senate.

The Senator said this while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme on Wednesday.

Recall that the Senate, on Tuesday, witnessed a rowdy session as it debated over claims of budget padding.

Recall that Senator Abdul Ningi representing Bauchi Central on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had earlier alleged that N3.7 trillion was padded into the 2024 budget.

Ningi was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Population and represents Bauchi Central.

He was eventually suspended for three months following his allegation.

However, Abaribe, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, said he was part of those who moved around and tried to moderate the tense atmosphere in the Senate on Tuesday.

He said the view of the Senate prevailed despite his and others’ intervention as elders in the hallowed chamber.

He said: “Well, we have rules. Our rule says in section 66 that if you bring the Senate to disrepute – I think there are several aspects of that section 66 in our rules, which you can discipline a Senator.

“But there’s also another part of the argument that says that under section, I think 2C (14) or so, where a constituency must be represented.

“I am an elder in the Senate. And I was part of those that went around and said ‘Please can we moderate this’. But the view of the Senate prevailed.

“If I was, of course, the presiding officer, probably we would have run it differently.

“At a point at which Senator Olamilekan had made that clarification should have been where we should have ended the matter. But of course, the matter nosedived. It is what it is.

“I think we can just move on. The rule must be adhered to. Any system without rules will just devolve into chaos. That’s all.”