Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, the representative for Cross River North in the National Assembly, abandoned a live television interview when questioned about the controversial 2024 budget.
News About Nigeria reports that the incident took place on Sunday during the Arise News breakfast show.
The TV programme anchor, a lady, had pressed Jarigbe for details regarding the allocations in the 2024 budget, to which the Senator deflected, stating that he hadn’t scrutinised the budget line by line.
He also requested the TV anchor provide him with details regarding the budgetary provisions for her senatorial district.
In response, the anchor clarified that she is not an elected representative of her constituents and added that she only reviewed the budget on a Ministry-by-Ministry basis, with no “arithmetic” for detailed analysis.
“I was not elected by the people of Cross River North, you are, it your duty, I believe, not mine (to scrutinize the budget), but let’s move on…., ” the TV anchor said.
At that point, Senator Jarigbe said, “Come oh, what is this budget, budget talk nah? I want to talk about my thanksgiving and representation to my people, you people are doing budget, budget, I will walk away oh. You people want me to say something that I will go and face wahala, you should allow me oh, let me serve my people quietly.”
The connection to Jarigbe was lost immediately after.
The integrity of the 2024 budget has recently come under severe scrutiny following allegations by Bauchi Central Senator Abdul Ningi, who claimed that the budget was padded with N3.7 trillion.
However, this has been denied by the National Assembly, which alleged that Ningi made the remarks for political reasons. The Assembly also suspended the lawmaker for three months but is currently considering his recall to legislative duties.
