Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, representing Cross River North in the national assembly under the PDP, has alleged that most ranking senators got N500m as constituency project in the 2024 budget.
Jarigbe spoke on Tuesday while contributing to the debates over claims by a colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District of Bauchi State under the PDP, that N3trn in the budget was not tied to any project.
"If we want to go into those issues, all of us are culpable. Some of the so-called Senior Senators here got N500m each from the 2024 budget, I am a ranking Senator I didn’t get anything. No Senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi," he said.
His remarks triggered an uproar on the floor, as other senators tackled him.
Ningi was reported to have made the claim during a BBC Hausa Service interview at the weekend.
The Bauchi Senator, however, denied the reports on Monday, saying he was quoted out of context because he spoke in Hausa.
However, at the resumed plenary of the Senate on Tuesday, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, moved a motion, calling for the investigation of the claim by Ningi.
Adeola’s motion was seconded by Senator Joel Onawakpo, after which senators engaged in a stormy debate while speaking on the matter.
Senator Adamu Aliero, representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District, raised a point of order, asking the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to ensure a fair hearing by allowing the man at the centre of the controversy to state his side of the story.
But, in his response to the motion, Akpabio, said, “For me I think this is a very straightforward matter. We have a situation to be the stabiliser of the National Assembly."
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