CNG tackles senate leader for comparing Ningi’s action to civilian coup

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has chided Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, for alleging that Senator Abdul Ningi is propagating an impeachment agenda against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, despite the Northern Senators Forum not being in support of it.

Bamidele, representing Ekiti Central, on Tuesday, maintained that what Ningi did was tantamount to a failed civilian coup, adding that he only wanted to use the Northern senators’ forum to push his agenda.

The Senate leader further said the attempt to take over the Senate’s leadership beyond June 13, 2023, must stop.

Senator Ningi had, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Service) on Saturday, alleged that N3.7tn was untraceable in the budget.

However, Bamidele, while reacting, alleged that Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District, attempted to unseat the senate president by allegedly inciting the Northern Senators’ Forum which he led against Akpabio, a southern senator, who took over from Ahmad Lawan.

He said: “What my big brother, distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi, whom I respect so well, planned to do or set out to do was tantamount to a civilian coup which has failed. And in doing this, he wanted to use the platform of the Northern Senators’ Forum. God bless all those who have dissociated themselves from the Northern Senators’ Forum.”

Weighing in, CNG in a statement by Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, its National Coordinator, warned Bamidele to stop pointing fingers at the North for alleged conspiracies to frustrate Akpabio’s tenure as Senate President.

The statement read in part: “Bamidele seems to have a selective memory when it comes to political alliances and the role that Northern politicians have played in shaping the country’s leadership by failing to acknowledge the support that Northern politicians provided to figures like President Tinubu, allowing him to secure the presidential ticket of the APC and ensuring his emergence as president with their overwhelming votes of 60 percent.

“The CNG today declares that enough is enough. The North will no longer remain passive under such deliberate and sustained attacks on its leaders, its integrity and dignity, and will henceforth be forced to react to every provocation and unwarranted treatment from any quarter.

“Bamidele and his ilk, with their collaborators from the North, should be warned that their actions will not go unnoticed and in the fullness of time, they will be held accountable for their utterances.

“All those who have no other useful vocation other than attacking northern leaders under the slightest of pretexts should know that our patience has reached its nadir. The North’s reticence in speaking out or taking action is not born of fear or ignorance of how to respond in kind. It is simply because of our respect for others and deep commitment to national integration.”