Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, is of the opinion that the Nigerian Senate still owes the people some explanations as regards the budget padding scandal rocking the Upper Chambers at the moment.
Obi said the claims and counter-claims over the alleged N3trillion which was padded into the 2024 budget, requires proper explanation as to what Nigerians must need to know regarding management of the nation’s.
The Senate under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio had on Tuesday suspended Senator Abdul Ningi over allegations of N3.7trn padding of the 2024 Budget.
Ningi, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Bauchi Central Senatorial District, was suspended for three months after a long stormy session in the red chamber.
In an interview, Ningi had claimed that the Federal Government is operating two versions of the 2024 budget and that the N28.7 trillion Budget passed and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu was skewed against the North.
Addressing both the Senate and the Presidency in a communique shared via X, Mr Obi asserted that it is sacrosanct for every penny of Nigeria’s public fund to be used for public good, adding that the alleged N3 trillion is more than the national budget of the two most critical components of the human development index, health and education, combined.
He stressed that even if there is no N3trillion as claimed, then, the N1.2 trillion which the executive branch admitted to have been padded, if channeled into any of the critical areas of development, could have positively impacted the nation and uplifted the people.
