By NEFISHETU YAKUBU

Sen Kawu Sumalia (APC Kano) has clarified his call on the Senate to investigate the alleged inclusion of an illegal agency in the 2026 national budget, insisting that the National Assembly must determine how it was captured.

Addressing newsmen shortly after plenary, Sumalia said he raised the matter under Order 9© of the Senate Rules as a matter of privilege to draw the attention of his colleagues to what he described as a serious issue.

He said that public allegations, counter-allegations and widespread criticisms over the agency’s existence had made it imperative for the senate to speak on the issue.

He clarified that his primary concern was not the creation of the agency but the process through which it was included in the national budget.

“We are constitutionally empowered to consider and approve the national budget.

“Therefore, we must determine who facilitated the inclusion of that agency’s budget in the national budget,” he said.

Sumalia explained that the controversial budget provision could only have originated either from the executive or during the national assembly’s budget appropriation process.

“If the proposal came from the executive, then that is one issue. If it originated from the national assembly, Nigerians deserve to know who was responsible,” he stated.

The lawmaker, while commending President Bola Tinubu for ordering an executive investigation, noted that the legislature also had a constitutional responsibility to conduct its own inquiry.

“The executive is carrying out its investigation, but the national assembly must also carry out its own investigation,” he said.

Responding to questions, the senator said the senate was not obligated to debate his motion, stressing that the privilege order that he relied on to raise the motion guaranteed him the right to raise it.

He explained that the upper chamber approved the first leg of his motion but declined to debate the substantive prayers contained in the motion.

“I have communicated my message to the senate and to Nigerians. Whether the senate debates it or not, I have discharged my constitutional responsibility,” he declared.

The lawmaker maintained that his concern was to identify who authorised the agency’s inclusion in the appropriation process and whether any fund had been released.

“We need to know whether there were any release, to which account it was paid and who the signatories were. That is the real issue,” he stated.

Sumalia stressed that the president has constitutional powers to establish agencies for administrative purposes but noted that appropriating public funds remained the exclusive responsibility of the national assembly.

He further explained that he deliberately invoked the privilege provisions of the senate rules because they guaranteed him the opportunity to raise a matter without being stopped.

“We are all Nigerians. History will judge whether we discharged our constitutional responsibilities in accordance with the law,” he concluded. (NAN)

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