The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has filed a suit against President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio for failing to refer the alleged N3.7 trillion budget padding allegation to appropriate anti-corruption agencies for investigation and prosecution, and to recall the source of the allegations, Senator Abdul Ningi.
In a statement issued by Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, the suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/452/2024 was filed on Friday, April 5 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The statement noted that Akpabio was joined in the suit by all members of the Senate.
Senator Ningi was suspended from the Senate on March 12, 2024 after he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by over N3tn.
To validate Ningi’s allegations, SERAP said “According to BudgIT, a total of 7,447 projects culminating in N2.24tn were indiscriminately inserted in the 2024 budget by the National Assembly. 281 projects worth N491bn, and 3,706 projects within the range of N100–500m, worth N759bn, were inserted in the budget,.”
