A federal high court sitting in
Lagos has ordered the prosecution of principal officers of the national
assembly indicted in the alleged N481bn padding of the 2016 budget.
The court said President
Muhammadu Buhari should direct Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the
federation and minister of justice, and/or appropriate anti-corruption agencies
to “without delay, commence prosecution of indicted lawmakers”.
The judgment was delivered on
Monday by Mohammed Idris, following a mandamus suit filed by Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to compel the AGF to prosecute the
indicted lawmakers.
The court also granted an order
directing Buhari to “urgently halt alleged attempt by some principal officers
of the national assembly to steal N40 billion of the N100 billion allocated by
his government as zonal intervention in the 2017 budget”.
The president was also ordered to
“closely monitor and scrutinise the spending of N131bn (accrued from increased
oil benchmark) allocated for additional non-constituency projects expenditure,
to remove the possibility of corruption”.
Timothy Adewale, SERAP deputy
director said the judgment “confirms the pervasive corruption in the budget
process and the prevailing culture of impunity of our lawmakers as well as the
failure of the authorities to uphold transparency and accountability in the
entire budget process and implementation.
”The judgement is an important
step towards reversing a culture of corruption in the budget process that has
meant that many of our lawmakers see the budget more as a ‘meal ticket’ to look
after themselves than a social contract to meet people’s needs and advance
equity and development across the country.
“This is a crucial precedent that
vindicates the right to a transparent and accountable budget process and
affirms the budget as government’s most important economic policy document,
which is central to the realization of all human rights including the rights to
health, water, and education.
”We are now in the process of
obtaining a certified copy of the judgment. SERAP will do everything within its
power to secure the full and effective enforcement of this important judgment.”
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