AFRIQUECAN: PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the Labour Party – LP, Peter Obi the Nigerian Senate still owes the citizens an explanation concerning the budget padding controversy.
On Tuesday, the Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi, who blew the whistle regarding the N3.7 trillion padding of the 2024 Budget.
Obi said the claims and counter-claims over the alleged N3trillion requires proper explanation as to what Nigerians must need to know regarding management of the nation.
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.
Displeased by Ningi’s utterances, the Presidency and many Senators described his claims as “far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status”.
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 three trillion as claimed, then, the N1.2 trillion which the executive branch admitted to have been padded, if channelled into any of the critical areas of development, could have positively impacted the nation and uplifted the people.