Does Senate Have The Constitutional Power To Suspend Ningi? Here’s What You Should Know
The Nigeria Senate is not free of the political drama and rancor often witnessed by other legislative bodies around the world. Yesterday, on March 12, 2024, Nigerians witnessed one such dramatic proceeding many are accustomed to, when the upper chamber, during a plenary session, reached a decision to suspend one of their own, Senator Abdul Ningi, following his claims that N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget was not allocated to any project.
Ningi’s claims sparked speculation about budget padding, signaling dubious dealings, corruption, and unaccountability by the country’s political leaders.
Peter Obi, an opposition and the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last general election, in a message to his 4.5 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), said he “finds it deeply disconcerting and a matter of grave concern about the alleged N3 trillion discrepancy between the budget approved by the Nigerian Senate and the one being implemented by the presidency.”
However, on Monday, in a chat with Senate correspondents, Senator Ningi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Population representing Bauchi Central, while insisting that the disclosed amount was not tied to any project, clarified that “at no time did I say Bola Ahmed Tinubu is implementing two budgets.”
“I said we have established without reasonable doubt about 25 trillion so far as a nexus in the budget. That means there is money, and then there is a project and then there is a location. Money, project, location, but we are yet to ascertain three trillion of that budget. We have established three trillion in the budget; we have not established its location and place,” he said.
Nonetheless, Ningi fell out with some of his colleagues, with Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, an Appropriation Committee member in the Senate, calling for Ningi to be charged “for criminal misinformation, and conduct likely to breach the peace of the country.”
A motion for his suspension was raised on the Senate floor, and after deliberation, Ningi was suspended for three months and escorted out of the chambers.
But does the Senate have the right to suspend a Senator elected by his constituents?
In the past, Senators have been suspended, but their suspension was often revoked or annulled by the court.
On April 12, 2028, Ovie Omo-Agege, Senator representing Delta Central, was suspended by his colleagues. Omo-Agege had alleged that the amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act was targeted at the then President, Muhammadu Buhari. He took the Senate President and the Senate to court while the matter was being internally discussed, which prompted the Senate to suspend him for 90 days. However, a month later, a High Court in Abuja, the Federal Territory, nullified the suspension and ordered his reinstatement. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, who presided over the case, ruled that the Senate is only empowered to suspend an erring member for 14 days.
Omo-Agege resumed at the Senate on May 16, 2018, was re-elected during the 2019 general elections, and then elected Deputy Senate President afterward.
In the case of Ali Ndume, the Senator representing Borno South served his full six months’ suspension before Justice Babatunde Quadri ruled that Ndume’s suspension was “illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional as it was done in violation of sections 68 and 69 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Quadri also ordered that all of Ndume’s outstanding salaries and allowances should be paid.
Similarly, in the lower House of Representatives, Dino Melaye and 10 others were suspended indefinitely by the House in 2010. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who represented the suspended legislators, recounted the position taken by the court in an interview with Channels TV.
“Dino Melaye and 10 others were suspended indefinitely. I went to court for them, and the court said: ‘Under your own rules, you cannot suspend a member for more than 14 days – Under what law did you suspend these 11 members of the House of Representatives for an indefinite period of time?,” he said.
While it remains unclear if Ningi will approach the court to nullify his suspension, the 1999 constitution, as amended in Section 69, provides parameters for a Senator to be recalled.
The law states;
A member of the Senate or of the House Representatives may be recalled as such a member if;
A) “There is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member’s constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member.”
