Oladimeji RamonThe Attorney General of the Federation may soon file criminal charges against members of the National Assembly fingered in the alleged padding of the 2016 Federal Government’s budget. The budget was allegedly padded to the tune of N481bn by some principal officers of the National Assembly, who fraudulently introduced some projects into the budget. The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday granted leave for an order of mandamus to compel the AGF to file criminal charges against the lawmakers who allegedly padded the budget. Justice Mohammed Idris made the order in favour of a social rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project. “Alleged corruption in the budget process will not just melt away or simply evaporate without addressing the fundamental issue of impunity of perpetrators.

Source: Punch January 14, 2018 18:00 UTC