Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal proceedings against the Senate President, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Tajudeen Abbas.Â
This legal action pertains to their alleged “unlawful intention to allocate N40 billion for the purchase of 465 luxury and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials, as well as N70 billion as ‘palliatives’ for new members.”
Following Mr. Akpabio’s announcement that the Clerk of the National Assembly had disbursed “holiday allowances” to senators’ bank accounts, SERAP filed the lawsuit under case number FHC/L/CS/1606/2023 on Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
In their application, SERAP is requesting “a court order compelling Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Abbas to review and reduce the N40 billion budget allocated for the purchase of 465 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.”
They are also seeking “a court order restraining Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Abbas from receiving or demanding the N40 billion allocated for the purchase of 465 SUVs and bulletproof cars until a comprehensive assessment of the socio-economic impact of this spending on the 137 million impoverished Nigerians is conducted in the public interest.”
Furthermore, SERAP is pursuing “a court order to direct and compel Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Abbas to repeal the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2022 to decrease the National Assembly budget by N110 billion to accurately reflect the prevailing economic circumstances in the country.”
SERAP argues that public officials, including lawmakers, bear a fiduciary responsibility to serve the best interests of the general public. They assert that the lawmakers’ intention to allocate N110 billion at a time when a substantial portion of the population is grappling with extreme poverty constitutes a breach of this responsibility.
The lawsuit, presented by SERAP’s legal representatives Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms. Blessing Ogwuche, emphasizes that such expenditure contradicts both the Public Procurement Act and the constitutional oath of office.
