Apparently, to avoid suspension from the Senate, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, on Sunday, abandoned a live TV interview midway over the subject of the 2024 Budget in order to, according to him, avoid facing ‘wahala’.
The Senator, who represents Cross River North Senatorial zone, was a remote guest on Arise News Channel’s breakfast show, and one of the anchors took him to task on the details of the 2024 Budget. Drama, however, ensued when the lawmaker said he did not scrutinise the budget line by line to which the female anchor reacted by saying that it was ‘fascinating’ that the Senator didn’t familiarise himself with the details of the budget, which she had done.
Apparently embarrassed, Senator Jarigbe asked the TV anchor to tell him the details of the budgetary provisions for her senatorial district, to which the anchor replied that she did not have the ‘arithmetic’ but only scrutinised the budget on the basis of Ministry by Ministry.
“I was not elected by the people of Cross River North, you are, it’s your duty, I believe, not mine (to scrutinise the budget), but let’s move on…., ” the TV anchor thereafter said.
At that point, Senator Jarigbe replied saying, “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.”
Thereafter, the connection to Senator Jarigbe was lost.
Bellnews recalls that the drama may not be unconnected with the fate of Bauchi Central Senator, Abdul Ningi, who was suspended by the Senate a few weeks ago over his claims during a radio interview that there were no details and locations for about N3trn projects in the 2024 budget, among others.