Akpabio Finally Lands in Court for 2 Things, Details Emerge

• Godswill Akpabio, the president of the senate, has been dragged to court by SERAP over his failure to recall the suspended Senate Abdul Ningi
• SERAP also sued Akpabio for his failure to refer the budget padding allegation raised by Senator Ningi to the anti-graft agencies for investigation and prosecution
• In the application before the federal high court in Abuja, Akpabio was sued for himself and on behalf of all the senators in the national assembly

FCT, Abuja – Senate President Godswill Akpabio has been charged to court for failing to refer the alleged budget padding allegation to the appropriate anti-graft agencies for investigation and prosecution.

The Senate president is also charged to court for an alleged wrong suspending the Bauchi Senate Abdul Ningi, who blew the whistle on the allegation.

Why SERAP sues Akpabio

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) dragged Akpabio to court in case number FHC/ABJ/CS/452/2024, filed on Friday, April 5, at the federal high court in Abuja.

Kolawole Oluwadare, the lawyer for SERAP, the organisation’s deputy director, and Mrs Adelanke Aremo filed the suit against the Senate president.

According to The Punch, the development was disclosed in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, April 7.

The statement revealed that the Senate president was sued for himself and on behalf of the lawmakers in the Upper Chamber.

How Senator Ningi framed Akpabio, Tinubu

The embattled Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi Central senatorial district got a three-month suspension from the Akpabio-led senate over a budget padding allegation.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the lawmaker alleged that the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government was implementing an N28.7tn budget, different from the N25tn debated and passed by the national assembly.

Ningi, during the interview, said:

“We discovered N3tn was inserted into the budget for projects without locations. This is the highest budget padding that happened in Nigerian history under Senator Akpabio’s watch.”

Budget padding: Why Akpabio should not resign

The legal practitioner posited that Akpabio was not the only senator indicted in the allegation and that all the lawmakers would also have to leave the national assembly.

According to the lawyer, the senate leadership should allow the EFCC to investigate the constituency projects included in the budget in the past to ascertain their execution.