Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe has revealed that some senior senators were given N500 million each from the 2024 budget as palliatives for their constituents while others got N200 million.

Jarigbe made this known during the plenary on Tuesday with the revelation about the uneven distribution of the federal government’s palliatives to senators for onward disbursement to their constituents throwing the Senate into a rowdy session.

“All of us are culpable. Some so called Senior Senators here got 500 million naira each from the 2024 Budget,” said Darige.

“I am a ranking Senator but I didn’t get anything. No Senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi.”

The Senate debated the allegation made by the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), Senator Abdul Ningi, a claim he stood his ground on.

Ningi had remained adamant on his earlier claim that projects worth N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Appropriation Act are not traceable.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senator representing Bauchi South doubled down on his claim during an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Monday.

He had initially made an allegation that the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as the 2024 budget instead of the N28.7 trillion that is being implemented by the federal government.

Ningi had also alleged that the 2024 budget was not fair to all the regions of the country.

“I am not afraid of suspension by the Senate. I stand by what I said: N3.7 trillion not traced to any project in the 2024 Budget. I spoke for myself and not on behalf of the Northern Senator Forum,” said Ningi.

“I never said the federal government is operating with two budgets. I only said N25 trillion was traced to projects and N3.7 trillion was not traced to any project.”

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday said the integrity of the Senate has been totally damaged.

Akpabio said the upper chamber has been subjected to ridicule as Nigerians are bashing the parliament.

He faulted Ningi’s earlier interview and for also granting a follow-up interview where he purportedly justified his initial claim of budget padding.

“Nigerians are bashing the Senate. Many Nigerians will never in future come back to respect this chamber. The integrity of this chamber has been totally damaged and we wanted you to repair it with your speech,” he said.

“Instead of that, you said you have more documents to prove what you are saying. This thing is in the public glare. I have not received full details up to this moment. If you had given me full details, I would have been able to know what you know.

“So far, what you know is only known to you, it is not known to any other person. I don’t know how you rushed to the press carrying different versions. The social media is very fast. From Canada, the United States, everywhere, the story was budget padding by the Senate.”