Akpabio, Abbas In Fresh Trouble As SERAP Drags Them To Court Over Jumbo Allowances

In the midst of ongoing controversy, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal action against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

The lawsuit challenges their failure to put an end to the illegal practices involving the determination of lawmakers' allowances and operational expenses.

Kolawole Oluwadare, the SERAP Deputy Director disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

According to SERAP, the case was filed last Friday at Abuja Federal High Court in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1289/2024.

“An order of mandamus to direct and compel Mr. Akpabio and Mr. Abbas to disclose the exact amount of the monthly running costs being paid to and received by the lawmakers, and the spending details of any such running costs”, SERAP stated.

The group argued that “The provisions of paragraph N, section 32(d) of the Third Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] make it unlawful for the National Assembly to fix its salaries, allowances and running costs.”

This comes as former Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo alleged that lawmakers fix their salaries and allowances, contrary to the recommendation of the Revenue Mobilisation Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMAFC).

Although clarified that the 109 senators in Nigeria earn N1,063,860 salaries monthly, however it didn’t state the number of allowances.

This comes as Kano South Senator, Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila said that senators get N21 million monthly running costs.

Shehu Sani, a former Senator, said Sumaila’s claim on running costs had vindicated him.