The Senate has ruled out any other plan to reinstate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi PDP).
Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu (APC, South), disclosed this on Monday to dispel the claim that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had agreed to settle with the embattled lawmaker in private.
Adaramodu said there was no provision for such an arrangement, as only the 108 senators could decide Ningi’s fate, adding that “There as an infraction occasioned by the actions of our respected colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi, which made the Senate in an open public session, where he was allowed to defend himself and for senators to talk on it, debated on it, then at the end of the day it was found that an infraction had really occurred.
“And 109 senators except Ningi decided that Senator Ningi would be given a light disciplinary declaration which gave him a three-month suspension from parliamentary activities.
“So it is only 108 senators that took that action that can call Senator Ningi back.”
He said when the Senate resumes on Tuesday, if he ( Ningi) makes a plea, then the senators will sit and review based on merits.
Adaramodu recalled that during recession, there were so many insinuations, there has been a report that a letter has been written by the counsel to Senator Ningi compelling the Senate President to recall Senator Ningi within seven days.
“We will resume plenary today (Tuesday), so if the matter comes up, either directly or indirectly, either voluntarily or involuntarily, then we sit down together in the chamber and then we look at it on its merit and consider an action to be taken.”
While responding to speculations surrounding legal interventions, like in the case of the former Deputy Senate President, Ovie-Omo-Agege, Adaramodu said, “I’m not a law court. The situations with Senator Omo-Agege and Ningi are distinctly different. Just as other organizations have disciplinary mechanisms, so does the legislature.”
