The press, especially the Southwest media establishment has been agog with not even the news of allegations made by Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi to the effect that over N3 trillion in the 2024 budget are not tied to any project, what is news to most of them is a rebuttal by some Northern senators that he did not speak on their behalf. Thank God, Abdul said he spoke for himself, a ranking and distinguished senator, whose record in the legislature surpasses those of several others today.
Even the so-called Northern senators who chose to disassociate themselves from statements made by Senator Ningi are not telling us that his claims are unsubstantiated but merely playing political graffiti on a matter that has become sensational because a ‘democratically’ elected government headed by a Southerner is taken to task.
Those whose voices are louder in the chorus, even if they fought tooth and nail to ensure that Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not elected have now abruptly realized their foolishness during the campaigns and elections are now in the reality that Tinubu is a southerner like them as such no ‘rogue’ especially from the North can raise any issue no matter how credible against his government.
I have a few questions to share with anyone who may be reading this piece! I know Senator Ningi very well, he has been a legislator in and out of both the House of Representatives and the Senate since the return to civil rule in 1999. He is schooled in the art of governance and parliament and a thoroughbred seasoned leader in both the House and Senate when his party was in the majority, not a novice like Senator Jimoh Ibrahim who is probably in the senate because he is ‘rich’.
The rational thing to expect from all the chanting crowd is calls to investigate the issues Senator Ningi has raised rather than these shameless shouts of crucify him. The extreme call by Jimoh Ibrahim, a senator whose antecedents in Nigeria’s business environment are unknown is to say the least most unfortunate. Who does Jimoh think he is to deny a more experienced and certainly more resourceful senator the right to express his views on critical national issues? I hope the Tinubu government will heed the advice of Jimoh Ibrahim and act as he ignorantly proposed, and we shall add so to the political liabilities that this government will define in 2027.
My issue is with both the Northern group that chose to disassociate themselves from the Ningi statement instead of working to investigate the allegations for the good of the nation of which their constituents are absolutely in the majority, and those other senators who would rather keep mute and dance to the tune of the noisy segments of the population against the rest of us is straight! They are cowards or they are traitors to their huge electorate.
The rational thing to do is for the leadership of the senate to come out and educate the nation on what the senator is saying rather than the barrage of threats and intimidation that Abdul Ningi is subjected to. These threats and intimidations are on us all, not just the senator and anyone thinking otherwise should continue to advise the government to go against its largest voter and wait for 2027 and see what it will be like.
When Senator Ali Ndume responded against Tinubu’s government’s decision to relocate some agencies and parts of the Central Bank of Nigeria to Lagos, he was called names, insulted and some unknown quantities who find themselves in government by their relation with the powers that be rather than value and relevance called him names and made many utterances to the extent of questioning his political capacity to caution the president as regards the ‘political consequences’ of that action.
If Ali Ndume’s frank statement was questioned by these politically clueless Nigerians, and yet the government went ahead with the relocation, it means and shows that the Tinubu administration does not respect the wishes of its voters. Yes, it does not, this is evident not just in the policy framework but also in absolute nepotism in its appointments of public officials. You may argue that Buhari was equally nepotistic in his appointments, yes, I will agree but with the proviso that 70% of his votes came from the section in question.
I am afraid for this government and it is pretty early in the day for President Tinubu to wake from his slumber and realize that he is mutilating the alliance he led to build in 2014, and this is dangerous because people will be forced to vote along regional and ethnic lines and I hope he knows the implications of that not just in 2027 but going forward. Age, I do believe, is a huge factor in the President’s seeming loud weaknesses and inherent inabilities not just in the management of the economy but also in the polity and sociology of Nigeria.
Attack on Abdul Ningi without addressing the issues he raised will only aggravate the problems of this government and let nobody assume falsely that because he is a member of the PDP he will make any impact on us the commoners. A political party is certainly only a vehicle and everyone is at liberty to join as he desires and leave as same. Importantly, we all can vote for any candidate or party during elections.
These noisemakers are only pitching the president and government against millions of us. You may wonder who I think I am for the audacity to raise my voice on these important issues affecting the polity. Do that at your peril! The central thesis of this piece is to request the Senate to investigate allegations made by the Distinguished Senator and not just sweep it under the carpet through huge press sensationalizing and outright mischief. This will not work. We know that the leadership of the Senate specifically was constituted to play definite roles which they already are. This may not be possible in the House of Representatives given the nature of its constituents.
Suspending Ningi from the senate will only raise more questions than answers on the credibility of the Tinubu administration. Using the press to blur the issues may succeed now but will boomerang on the way to 2027 and any politician who tries to downplay 2027 for what is going on at the moment should have his capacity reexamined.
I do not believe that given Senator Ningi’s pedigree, he would raise alarm where it is unnecessary. What I see in all these hues in the Senate and the sectional press is the desperation to discredit the senator, and sweep the substance of the issues he is talking about so that business will continue as normal.
What does the present senate think? We are studying its character about what it ought to be and what others before it were. No doubt Nigerians are lamenting over what is going on. Allegations of bill passage without adherence to simple legislative processes are all over the place. We were told that the 2024 bill was sent to the National Assembly in bits and pieces, this is the first time it has happened in the 24-year history of this civil administration. Senator Akpabio is said to be the ‘uncommon’ President of the Senate who gets things done in exceptional manners and circumstances.
The allegations made by Senator Ningi are ordinary in plural multiparty democracies like ours. There is nothing extraordinary about it, what needs to be done and must be done is to disprove or otherwise his allegation and that must be in public for public interest and the government must come out clean.
I see that there is desperation in the Senate to save its name, this is only possible if thorough scrutiny of the issues in question transparently takes place and the truth is known to all. This may save the Senate the integrity deficit it suffers at the moment.
The current government seems to have funny ideas on what democratic rule is in practice. This is the price that a nation faces when those in opposition take over governance. Free speech and tolerance are being redefined because certain characters are in charge. There are now different rules for different people in our democracy. Why must those who thrive in criticism find criticism unacceptable at some point?
This is exactly the manner the southwest press and a section of the senate are taking the Ningi statement, enmeshed in sentiments and desperation to possibly cover-up. We desire to know and we must know otherwise the rest of the nation will hold both the senate and government responsible for the allegation of colossal fraud in the appropriation process and in government.
We know for a long time that huge economic crimes were said to have been committed either through the legislature or by the legislature itself against the Nigerian people. This cannot be swept away or wiped out of the historical pagination of Nigeria’s civil rule. That is why we are where we are now. That is why the quality of governance continues to deteriorate in this country. Few, feeding on the rest. The quality of governments continues to shrink, the cost of living is on the rise while the standard of living is falling by the day and our representatives are playing with our intelligence.
The Senate should investigate the Abdul Ningi allegation and make the findings public. The Senate should also investigate the allegations made by Senator Jarigbe about the N500m dashed to ‘ranking senators during the debate that suspended Senator Ningi for three months. Jarigbe made the allegations but was shouted down by his colleagues. The answer here is straightforward. The senators are for themselves and not for us. It is easy therefore to tag Senator Ningi guilty and suspend him. This is unfortunate and unbecoming of our elected representatives. Sad! What a nation!
The investigation should be public rather than closed door!
I rest my case.
Mato PhD, a university teacher, writes from Abuja.
