In spite of the facade of euphoria trailing the suspension of the senator for Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, by the Senate on Tuesday indication has emerged that all is not well within the camp of lawmakers perceived to be loyalists of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Saturday Tribune’s checks revealed that the startling revelation from the senator representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, that some senators got N500m has since caused disaffection within the Stability Group, the platform which was used to campaign for the victory of Senator Akpabio as Senate President.
The membership of the group cuts across party divides and it is a coalition of new and ranking senators.
A lawmaker who spoke with Saturday Tribune revealed that what was being discussed in hushed tones by the aggrieved lawmakers, that they have been handed the short end of the stick by their colleagues who emerged as presiding officers and some who were offered juicy committees after the June 2023 election, has since become an open secret.
Checks revealed that despite recent spirited efforts by Senator Jarigbe at damage control, aggrieved lawmakers in the Stability Group who felt left in the cold are bent on latching on the disclosures and are equally smarting for a showdown with the leadership of the Senate.
None of the senators was, however, willing to be quoted on the brewing crisis in that group.
It will be recalled that while speaking on the floor of the Senate, the senator representing Ekiti Central and Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, had accused lawmakers who lost out in the race for Senate Presidency of being the masterminds of the budget padding allegation.
The Senate Leader also raised the alarm over alleged plot to oust Akpabio as Senate President before June.
Turning to Akpabio, Senator Bamidele said: “Don’t be deceived, the losers of the June 2023 Senate presidential election are still angry.
Some have accepted but a few haven’t. They have plotted to remove you before June 2024.”
Multiple sources, however, revealed that Akpabio appears to be losing grip on the Stability Group, which is taken as an impregnable fortress.
Making his contribution to the motion raised by Senator Solomon Adeola which formally brought to the notice of the Senate the controversial interview granted BBC Hausa Service by Senator Ningi where he alleged that certain provisions in the 2024 budget to the tune of over N3 trillion could not be traced in the budget, the senator representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe had declared that Ningi should not be axed as he maintained that all lawmakers were culpable.
He said: “All of us are culpable. Some so-called senior senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 budget. I am a ranking sena-tor, I didn’t get anything. No senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi.”
The senator representing Borno South, who incidentally is the Senate Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appro-priation, Ali Ndume, in a recent interview, corroborated the claim of Senator Jarigbe.
Senator Ndume, who was Director General of the Akpabio Campaign Team and a strong member of the Stability Group, disclosed on a Channels TV live interview programme that he got more than his colleagues in the constituency/zonal intervention projects, being a ranking senator and presiding officer.
He said: “My colleagues know that I got more than them (floor members).
“All the senators have N200 million (each) for their constituency projects but l am a leader. That is the difference. Ten of us are leaders, including those in the opposition.
We get more than the floor members. It is normal… My colleagues know that I go more than them..
“It is disparity now, we are not the same; all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others. That is what the case is. They have agreed to that.
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“That decision is taken by the senators. We have the Senate Budget Committee before but now the floor members entrusted that to the presiding officers. That is the difference. So, most of the senators don’t know what I get and I will not tell you.”
Furore over Akwa-lbom North West projects
Saturday Tribune’s investigations revealed that a total of N2.5 billion was inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs for provision of deep freezers, generators and other empowerment items for local councils, spread across Akwa-Ibom North West. Incidentally, the senator representing Akwa-lbom North West is Senator Akpabio.
Ten local councils in the same senatorial district will benefit from the construction of rural roads to the tune of N1 billion under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture alongside provision of solar lights to the tune of N500 million.
In the same Federal Ministry of Agriculture budget, there is allocation of N1.5 billion for erosion control in some local governments within the senatorial district to ease movement of farm produce along with provision of N1.5 billion for construction of internal roads at various communities in Akwa-Ibom North West senatorial district.
The same Ministry of Agriculture also made provision for N1billion for construction of market stalls within same senatorial district of the Senate President.
A civil society organisation, BudgIT, decried the abuse of the intervention projects as it noted that the 10th Senate “went beyond the N100 billion envelope in the N28.7 trillion budget.”
It observed that the N100 billion envelope was earmarked in the 2024 Executive Budget Proposal for lawmakers to nominate constituency/zonal intervention projects to cater to projects in their constituencies.
”However, the National Assembly members have gone beyond the N100 billion envelope to insert thousands of constituency-like projects in the budgets of 326 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that in most cases it neither has the mandate nor technical capacity to execute.
“For example, 1,777 projects worth N218.6 billion are to be directly delivered in federal constituencies while 1,308 projects with a value of N176 billion are directly in senatorial districts.
“Other categories of projects include 1,150 streetlights worth N212 billion, 427 boreholes worth N82.5 billion, 170 ICT projects with a value of N30.95 billion, and N7.61 billion for empowerment of traditional rulers. If our analysis shows that 1,308 projects are to be implemented specifically in senatorial districts, it is not out of place that apart from the constituency projects, lawmakers also added up projects to their constituen-cies, at least N500m each,” BudgIT said.
Cost of senators’ SUVs may go up
AMIDST the growing anger over disclosure of items in the N28.7 trillion budget, indication has emerged that the cost of the Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for senators could be increased from initial N160 million each as a result of demand for cost variation by the suppliers of the Toyota vehicles.
While the House of Representatives confirmed delivery of the SUVs in November 2023, the Senate is yet to take full delivery.
The National Assembly comprises 469 members. While the Senate has 109 members, the House of Representatives has 360 members.
Checks revealed that the need for cost variation was attributed to the volatility of the foreign exchange.
The senator representing Kogi West, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Sunday Karimi, could not be reached for official confirmation.
He neither picked his calls nor responded to text messages from sent to him by our reporter.
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