Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas over \u201cthe unlawful plan to spend N40bn on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials, and N70bn as \u2018palliatives\u2019 for new members.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suit is coming on the heels of the statement by Mr Akpabio that the Clerk of the National Assembly had sent \u201choliday allowances\u201d into the \u201cvarious bank accounts of senators\u201d. Some 137 million Nigerians face extreme poverty.<\/p>\n
In the suit number FHC\/L\/CS\/1606\/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP is seeking: \u201can order of mandamus to direct and compel Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas to review and reduce the N40 billion budgeted to buy 465 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP is seeking: \u201can order restraining Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas from demanding or receiving the N40 billion to buy 465 SUVs and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials until an assessment of the socio-economic impact of the spending on the 137 million poor Nigerians is carried out in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP is also seeking: \u201can order of mandamus to direct and compel Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas to repeal the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2022 to reduce the budget for the National Assembly by N110bn to reflect the current economic realities in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: \u201cNigerians have a right to honest and faithful performance by their public officials including lawmakers, as public officials owe a fiduciary duty to the general citizenry.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP is arguing that, \u201cUnless the reliefs sought are granted, the lawmakers will spend the N110bn, and the travesty, and apparent conflicts of interest and self-dealing by members of the National Assembly would continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP is also arguing that, \u201cIt a fundamental breach of their fiduciary duties for members of the National Assembly to arbitrarily increase their own budget and to use the budget as a tool to satisfy the lifestyle of lawmakers.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to SERAP, \u201cWhile N70 billion \u2018support allowance\u2019 is budgeted for 306 new lawmakers, only N500 billion worth of palliatives is budgeted for 12 million poor Nigerians. N40 billion is also allocated to buy 465 SUVs and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Blessing Ogwuche, read in part: \u201cThe plan to spend N110bn is a fundamental breach of constitutional and international human rights obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planned spending of N110bn is a breach of section 57 (4) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 which provides that: \u2018All persons in whose hands public funds may be entrusted for whatever purpose should bear in mind that its utilization should be Judicious.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for members of the National Assembly to unjustifiably increase their own budget at a time when over 137 million poor Nigerians are living in extreme poverty exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than exercising their constitutional and oversight functions to pursue the public interest by considering bills to improve the conditions of the over 137 million poor Nigerians who are facing the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy, the lawmakers appear to be looking after themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to reports, no fewer than 107 units of the 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser and 358 units of the 2023 model of Toyota Prado would be bought for the use of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planned purchase is different from the official bulletproof vehicles expected to be purchased for the four presiding officers of the National Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposed spending of N110 billion by members of the National Assembly is apparently on top of the N281 billion already provided for the lawmakers in the 2023 National Assembly budget. The proposed spending is also different from the N30.17 billion budgeted for the \u2018inauguration expenses\u2019 for new members.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe budget for the National Assembly may further be increased as members are reportedly demanding an upward review of their salaries and allowances purportedly to offset the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSection 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that, \u2018the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Section 16(1)(a)(b), the National Assembly has the obligations to \u2018harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy\u2019, and to \u2018secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCutting the N110 billion from the budget of the National Assembly would be entirely consistent with members\u2019 constitutional oath of office, and the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution, as it would promote efficient, honest, and legal spending of public money.\u201d<\/p>\n
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas over \u201cthe unlawful plan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n