Nigeria’s Senate may lift Ningi’s suspension soon, says Akpabio
Nigeria’s Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, has said the Red Chamber will consider lifting the suspension on Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central).
He said this a day after the suspended lawmaker wrote to Akpabio, threatening to take legal action if his suspension was not lifted within 7 days.
Ningi’s suspension
Ningi was suspended following his BBC Hausa interview in which he alleged that the budget for the 2024 fiscal year was padded to the tune of N3.7 trillion.
After a heated debate by Senators on the floor during plenary on the matter, Ningi was suspended for three months and asked to write a letter of apology to the Senate.
Demand for review
But in a letter written by his counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), Ningi accused Akpabio of being the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge in the case which he said is in utter violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
He demanded for a review of the suspension.
In the letter titled; ‘Request To Lift The Suspension Of Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi,’ dated Wednesday, March 27, 2024, Senator Ningi threatened to seek legal redress.
The Senator accused Akpabio of causing him to be put on trial before the Senate on March 14, 2024 “contrary” to the provisions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, 2018.
Family affair
But answering questions from newsmen on Friday on arrival from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Akpabio said the Senate will soon review the three-month suspension.
He said, “It is a parliamentary decision. I have not seen the letter yet. But Senator Ningi is one of us. I mean what is suspension? I believe that in a few days, he will join us. So, there is no problem. It would be resolved amicably. The Senate is a family.”
There reports already the Senate was facing pressure to revisit its action, which was deemed unfair in some quarters.
