The Senate said the National Assembly Committees on Public Account to investigate the allegation of embezzlement of N4.4bn by the federal parliament, as confined in an audit report if petitions to that effect were sent to them.
The Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Kolawole Oluwadare, in a statement claimed that an audit report disclosed that the fund budgeted for the National Assembly was embezzled.
SERAP, therefore, gave Messrs Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, President of the Senate and Speaker, House of Representatives, respectively, 14 days ultimatum to address and implement the recommendations contained in the audit reports.
But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Ajibola Basiru, in his reaction, said the alleged infractions occurred during the 8th National Assembly and not in the 9th National Assembly.
He said, “This clarification is important as the wordings of the petition are capable of misleading the general public that SERAP is talking about the present National Assembly.
“It is not about any malfeasance by the current Assembly and its leadership as it is presently constituted. Far from it.”
Basiru, therefore, asked SERAP to channel its petition to the Committee on Public Account of both chambers of the National Assembly for necessary action.
