Jimoh Ibrahim, a Senator who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has requested that the Federal Government bring criminal charges against Senator Abdul Ningi for disseminating false information and violating the peace in the National Assembly and, by extension, the entire nation.

Speaking with Senate journalists on Monday, 11 March 2024, Ibrahim refuted his colleague, Ningi’s allegation that the nation has two Appropriation Acts.

Ibrahim, the Senator from the Ondo South Senatorial District, pleaded with the Federal Government and the Senate to “as soon as possible, charge Senator Ningi for criminal misinformation, and conduct likely to breach the country’s peace.”

“I will write a letter to the Inspector General of Police to look into the circumstances that led to the passage of two 2024 Appropriations Acts and bring the offenders to justice if the Senate does not act in that manner within the next seven days.

“The suggestion that we have two appropriations is untrue.” Ibrahim declared, “We need to file criminal misinformation charges against Senator Ningi for his actions that could lead to a breach of peace.”

For the time being, Senator Ningi, the National Assembly Representative for the Bauchi Central Senatorial District, has reversed some of the statements he made about the 2024 Appropriations Act.

The Northern Senators Forum Chairman made it clear in a Monday conversation with Senate journalists that he never advocated that President Bola Tinubu was biased against the North or that he was implementing two budgets.

He explained that he stands by his remarks made in his capacity as a Senator and not as the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum. He cited three criteria, money, project, and location to demonstrate that N25 trillion was appropriately allotted in the budget, but he was unable to determine the location of the other N3 trillion project.

On Sunday, 10 March 2024, the President refuted Senator Ningi’s assertion that the Federal Government is implementing two distinct budgets for 2024.

The senator’s assertion that the National Assembly approved N25 trillion as the 2024 budget is untrue, according to a statement from Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who also noted that President Tinubu passed and signed N28.7 trillion into law.

Additionally, the assertion made by Senator Ningi, representing the Bauchi Central Senatorial District, that the 2024 Budget was anti-northern, was also characterized by the Presidency as “far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status.”

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