A Northern group, Arewa Movement for Good Governance (AM2G), has leveled allegations against the Nigerian Senate, accusing its leadership of involvement in the mass looting of the country’s treasury.
The accusation comes in the wake of the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi over allegations of padding the 2024 budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion.
Dr. Usman Bugaje, the group’s convener and a former member of the House of Representatives, voiced concerns at a press conference, asserting that the suspension of Ningi was unjust without a thorough investigation.
Bugaje emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability in governance, highlighting the need for elected officials to demonstrate their innocence to the public.
Bugaje further criticized the state of the nation’s democracy, stating that the current National Assembly impedes development and perpetuates poverty and marginalization among Nigerians.
He stated, “The National Assembly is an accomplice in the mass looting of the public treasury that has today become the budget process.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are impoverished and marginalised; they struggle to survive with no hope for improvement.
“Now, we can see why we spent billions of dollars in electricity without a substantial increase in megawatts of electricity, and the culprits are going scot-free; why our economy has been shrinking and ending up in shambles; why our youths cannot find jobs; why our country is on this dangerous trajectory, heading for the rocks; and why this country, under this rogue politics, has no future at all.”
“Suspension of Senator Ningi appears to be a panic measure that violates the principles of representation in a democracy. It is clearly an evasive move to distract attention from the issues raised.
“It is also unfair for an issue of this magnitude to be swept under the carpet without a thorough investigation to prove beyond doubts to the Nigerian public, who ostensibly elected these senators to represent them that the senators are not culpable.
“From the video clips shown by the media covering the NASS, we found it intriguing that after the suspension, and as Ningi was walking out of the chamber with the heap of evidence in his hands, no senator appeared to show any compunction.
“This suggests a conspiracy of silence in the supposedly hallowed chamber, or is it a chamber of shame? It apparently did not occur to the Senate that they were judges in their own court, or worse still, they were the prosecutors and the jury at the same time,” he added.
