Bauchi Central Senator Abdul Ningi got hard knocks from the Presidency yesterday over his claim that Budget 2024 was padded with N3 trillion and screwed against the North.

The Presidency described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator’s claims as false, “too far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status”.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu forwarded an evenly distributed budget, in which none of the six geo-political zones is marginalised.

Three senators – Steve Sunday Karimi (Kogi West), Titus Tartenger Zam (Benue Northwest) and Kaka Sheu (Borno Central) – also rejected Ningi’s claims, which they described as a ruse, unfounded, baseless and a figment of his imagination.

They dissociated themselves from it.

The senators are members of the Northern Senators’ Forum, under whose auspices Ningi allegedly spoke.

They warned against what they described as the antics of blackmailers bent on creating an atmosphere of crisis in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.

Ningi alleged in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service at the weekend that the 2024 Budget being executed had been padded to the tune of N3 trillion and skewed against the interest of the North.

He alleged that the report of a consultant revealed the padding.

He added that the Northern Senators’ Forum, which he chairs, would confront Senate President Godswill Akpabio with its findings on the alleged ‘padding.’

At a meeting last week, some northern senators also accused the Senate President of inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget.

They alleged that the projects, which had no locations, were inserted into the budget, which they also claimed was lopsided against the North and some parts of the South.

The northern senators also accused Akpabio of railroading the senators to hurriedly pass the budget, adding that it favoured Akpabio and his cronies.

The Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Solomon Adeola (Ogun West), said the Senate would take a position on the allegations tomorrow at plenary.

The  statement by the Presidency said: “On the uncharitable claim that the 2024 budget was anti-North, we found such position as canvassed by Senator Ningi as too far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status.

“President Tinubu is leading a government that is fair and equitable to every part and segment of Nigeria.

“In terms of funding, distribution of capital and priority projects, the 2024 Appropriation Act was not skewed against any section of the country.

END.