There are reports of a potential crisis at the upper legislative chamber as Senate President Godswill Akpabio has been accused of padding the 2024 budget with approximately N4 trillion worth of projects. This allegation was made by some lawmakers who form part of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF).

The group, which comprises 58 lawmakers and is chaired by Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), confronted Akpabio at a meeting held at the Senate President’s Guest House in Maitama on Thursday. Apart from Akpabio, the meeting was attended by his deputy, Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano), and Chief Whip, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno).

According to Premium Times, the northern senators accused Akpabio of surreptitiously inserting projects worth N4 trillion into the 2024 budget without any location or justification. They also claimed that the budget was biased against the northern part of the country and some parts of the south. The senators accused Akpabio of pressuring them to pass “the most fraudulent budget in the history of Nigeria.”

During the meeting, the northern senators alleged that after carefully scrutinizing the budget, they concluded that it was “self-serving in favour of Akpabio and his cronies.” A senator who was present at the meeting stated that Akpabio was unable to defend the accusations and instead claimed that he did not know how the insertions came about.

It was also reported that before the meeting ended, Akpabio promised to address the senators’ concerns. “For the last three months, we have employed private financial auditors to extensively examine the 2024 budget. We have uncovered significant unauthorized changes and additions in the budget that would have a widespread negative impact on the nation as a whole,” he said.

Akpabio further revealed that the budget passed by the National Assembly had been altered by some unknown individuals, and his team had discovered several irregularities that needed the President’s attention. “We will meet with the President and show him all the issues we have discovered. We will ask him if he is aware of all these things that are happening and what he intends to do to those who partake in the whole manipulations and inclusions,” he added.

As at the time of writing this story, Akpabio’s spokesperson, Eseme Eiyboh, was unavailable for comments.