A member of the Northern Senators Forum and Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Sunday Steve Karimi, has told Senator Abdul Ningi to at least fear God and say the truth, even as he is not afraid of suspension.
He spoke in response to Ningi’s news conference where he denied saying there were two budgets in operation.
However at the same news conference on Monday, the Chairman of the NSF insisted that N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Budget was not tied to any item.
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Challenging Ningi to own up to his misinformation, Senator Karimi said the representative of Bauchi Central Senatorial District spoke on behalf of the Northern Senators Forum and not in his individual capacity.
He said: “I advice 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 authorised him in the NSF to lie against the Senate.”
Karimi maintained that Ningi was “up to mischief because when they met the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, he 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.”
Speaking further, Senator Karimi chided Ningi, saying: “As a former principal officer both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, is Senator Ningi saying he is ignorant of the fact that arrangement of items on the first line charges are not usually lumped together with general items in the budget?
“I must say that Senator Ningi is just trying to engage in red-herring and sow the seed of institutional anarchy.
“As a ranking lawmaker, he should know that the organisation of first-line charge items is not lined up on the budget.
“A new legislator could have been forgiven for this invidious tar-brushing but a ranking senator cannot claim ignorance of the organisation of budget items.”
Senator Karimi also challenged Senator Ningi to disclose the source of the N30 million paid to the consultant who did the shoddy job for him.
According to Karimi: “No Northern Senator contributed any money to pay any consultant.
“So where did Senator Ningi get the N30 million he paid the consultant?
“Senator Ningi should tell Nigerians the source of the N30 million he paid to the consultants who have not even delivered on his consultancy since he is talking about transparency.”