Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila at Federal High Court, Abuja over alleged missing N4.4 billion National Assembly fund.
In the suit filed at the weekend, SERAP is seeking “an order of mandamus directing and compelling Lawan, Gbajabiamila and National Assembly to perform their constitutional oversight functions to ensure prompt and transparent investigation into the allegation that N4.4 billion budgeted for the National Assembly may be missing and unaccounted for.”
The suit followed publication of annual audited reports for 2015, 2017 and 2018 in which the Auditor-General of the Federation raised “concerns about alleged diversion and misappropriation of public funds, sought the recovery of any missing funds, and asked that the evidence of recovery should be forwarded to his office.”
SERAP, within the fit, is arguing that “By the combined analyzing of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UN Convention Against Corruption, which Nigeria has ratified, the National Assembly has prison duties to combat corruption and promote transparency and duty within the management of public assets.
“Transparency and responsibility inside the management of public sources and wealth is important for promoting development, human beings’s welfare and nicely-being, and their access to simple public services, in addition to true governance and the guideline of law.
“The National Assembly has legal obligation to ensure that the extreme allegations of corruption and mismanagement documented by means of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation are directly, independently, very well, and transparently investigated, and to end the tradition of impunity that is fuelling these allegations,” the organization stated.
According to SERAP, “The failure of the National Assembly to promptly and carefully look at, and to consult suitable anti-corruption companies the allegations documented in the annual audited reviews for 2015, 2017 and 2018 is a essential breach of the oversight and public interest responsibilities imposed on the legislative frame by sections 4, 88 and 89 of the Nigerian Constitution.”
The match filed on behalf of SERAP with the aid of its legal professionals, Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms. Adelanke Aremo, examine in element: “Granting this application might serve the hobby of justice, reduce corruption and mismanagement, as well as stop impunity of perpetrators, and develop the essential human rights of Nigerians.”
“This in shape seeks to vindicate the rule of thumb of law, the public hobby, and to sell transparency and accountability. Government groups and establishments are accountable to a court of justice for the lawfulness of what they do, and of that the court docket is the simplest decide. The National Assembly has no legally justifiable purpose to refuse to investigate the allegations documented with the aid of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation,” it delivered.
No comments:
Post a Comment