An aide of the Senate President, Dr. Jibril Tafida has cautioned Chairman of Northern Senators Forum, Senator Abdul Ningi, not to distract Senate President Godswill Akpabio with bickering over alleged 2024 budget padding.
While answering questions from newsmen, Dr. Tafida argued that “it sounds impossible to say that N3trillion could be padded; it does not make sense to me at all.
“As a respected Senator, he (Ningi) should have checked his records thoroughly before rushing to the press,” he lamented.
Dr. Tafida expressed concern that Senator Ningi and all the members of his Forum as serving lawmakers with direct access to Akpabio “have failed to meet the Senate President one-on-one to interact on whatever issues they want resolved.”
Dr. Tafida explained that Nigeria ” is now at the point where viable solutions are expected to emanate from the Senate Chambers, instead of bickering in the media. The Ningi Forum should be above board, taking internal issues of the Senate to the pages of newspapers, screens, and radio stations, is quite unnecessary.”
He admonished the lawmakers to directly and quietly approach Akpabio by taking advantage of his open door policy instead of rushing to the media.
Dr. Tafida also advised the Ningi Forum not to create the erroneous impression of a regional bickering “because Nigerians are fully aware that Akpabio has no history of regional sentiment.”