There was chaos in the Senate on Tuesday as Senator Representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Jarigbe exposed how some ranking senators allegedly got 500million naira constituency allowance in the 2024 budget.
Jarigbe made the revelation during an open session where Senators were reviewing Senator Abdul Ningi’s press statement that the 2024 budget was largely padded.
The Cross River Senator could not continue his expose as his mic was mysteriously put off while chambers became rowdy with Some appealing to Jarigbe to stop his submission.
“If we want to go into this issue, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, so-called senior senators got N500 million each. I am a ranking senator, I didn’t get. Did I go to the press? Most of you got. We don’t have to go into those issues,” he said.
Jarigbe could not continue his submission as President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio overruled him.
Earlier, Senator Abdul Ningi insisted he had documents to prove that the 2024 appropriation bill was padded by over 3trillion naira.
He argued that the inserted funds were not tied to any projects but Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Solomon Adeola called for an investigation into Ningi’s claims.
But the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio absolved himself of complicity and faulted Ningi for going to Press without raising those issues internally for clarification.