Former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has asserted that to project the Labour Party(LP) as better than any other political party in Nigeria is to live in denial.
Omokri said this explains why the LP Senators elected to go against the Party’s Presidential candidate in the February 25, 2023 Presidential poll, Peter Obi on Senator Abdul Ningi matter.
He said further that it was also for the same reason that none of the LP Senators walked out of the hallowed chamber of the Senate on Tuesday, March 12, when the lawmakers suspended Senator Abdul Ningi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and showed him the way.
Senator Ningi, the Senator representing Bauchi Central was suspended by his colleagues for alleging that the 2024 budget was padded to the tune of N3.7trillion Naira, an allegation he is yet to substantiate.
Reacting to the matter on Wednesday, the LP, presidential candidate said the suspension of Ningi by the Senate has not addressed vital issues emanating from his allegation.
Obi said the Senate still owe the Nigerian public a clear clarification over the various claims and counterclaims, including that involving the executive arm of government.
Obi said, “The fuss over the alleged N3 trillion padded into the 2024 budget raised by a Senator still rages as the Senate’s reaction of suspending the whistle-blower has not addressed vital issues emanating from the allegation.
“The Senator is insisting on his allegation and the Executive agreed that there was only N1.2trillion padded not N3 trillion as alleged by the Senator. Fresh allegations have also cropped up over indiscriminate and unbalanced allocation of constituency projects by the Senate leadership.
“A civic society group, Budgit, through their official, have also added their voice to agree with the Senator. They allege that there was no detailed project allocations for about N3.7trn in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
“As the Senate suspension of the senator involved has not addressed the issue, they still owe the Nigerian public a clear clarification over the various claims and counterclaims, including that of the executive arm, to be able to know exactly what is happening, and also disclose to the public, the exact amounts allocated for constituency projects for appropriate monitoring of implementation by the public.
“I had particularly elucidated in my earlier comment on what we can use the N3 trillion to achieve, by showing that it is more than the national budget of the two most critical components of the human development index, health and education, combined.
“Now that the executive arm has accepted that the padded amount is only N1.2 trillion, it is still a very significant amount, when you consider that it is almost 5 times the N251.47 billion proposed for Universal Basic Education, which is the foundation of education, in the Country.
“Today in Nigeria, the greatest challenge to human resource development is education, which has been identified as most critical at the basic level.
“Nigeria has about 20 million out-of-school children today because of the poor investment in education. These are resources that would have been utilised to ensure that our children are taken off the streets and returned to schools.
“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.
“And if indeed the report from Budgit is true, that there is about N3.7 trillion without any detailed project allocations, I strongly urge the Senate to do more detailed work of channelling these funds into the critical areas of development – education, health and pulling people out of poverty, which will in turn, minimise the criminality we are facing today.
“We must, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to all the wastage of our scarce resources, amid the excruciating hardship in the country.
“Let every penny of our public fund be used for public good. That is the only way to achieve the New Nigeria we are working towards.”
But using his official X handle formerly known as Twitter, Omokri reasoned that makes no sense to project Labour Party or its members as different from other political parties and their faithful.
“How many Labour Party Senators walked out with Senator Ningi when he was suspended and chased out of the Red Chamber? Zero. And we have at least six Labour Senators. By not walking out with Ningi, they sided with the decision to suspend him and went against their Presidential candidate. Therefore, to project that the Labour Party is better than any other party is to live in denial. Even when Peter Obi criticised the National Assembly for buying 400 SUVs, did any Labour Senator or Representative reject their SUVs? No. They just said ‘Igwe’ to Akpabio and collected their share of the National Cake!
“Look, I believe Senator Ningi should have told Nigerians that he was raising an alarm and not stating a fact. In that interview, he spoke as if he had facts. He did not! This is not the first time someone has been expelled from a hallowed chamber. satan also lied and was expelled from Heaven. Nigeria is a delicate country. Some unpatriotic citizens have been calling for a military coup. Ningi’s alarm could have given military adventurers a reason to act.
“What he ought to have done was to investigate and if verified, then go public. But by going public without first verifying his claims, he undermined the National Assembly, the Federal Government, and democracy. I have no sympathy for him,” he stated on official X handle formerly called Twitter.
