– According to the group, he senators circumvented extant procurement laws and the Fiscal Responsibility Act
– The TMG urged President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy all his powers to stop the “hedonistic acquisition in these lean times”
The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of over 400 grassroots organisations, reacted to the latest acquisition of new exotic automobiles by members of the Senate.
The lawmakers have come under criticism following reports that the Senate has started taking delivery of 108 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles.
However, the Senate claimed that it had bought only 36 units of the vehicles at N36.5 million each.
Premium Times reports that TMG reacted to the development in a statement issued by its chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, on Wednesday, April 19.
The group said that the senators circumvented extant procurement laws and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Therefore, it urged President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy all his powers to stop the “hedonistic acquisition in these lean times”.
“The gluttonous manner in which less than 500 individuals are cornering the resources of a country where poverty and many other forms of privations are the order of the day, calls for concerted efforts among citizen groups, to reject the reign of these thieves garbed in legislative robes,” it said.
The group noted that while Nigerians are grappling with the difficulties of living life without salaries, the senators are ‘living in criminal opulence’.
“Ironically, this is the same Senate led by a character currently standing trial over weighty allegations of false and anticipatory declaration of assets. It is the same institution that has been hijacked by shady figures, including their leader who has also been mentioned as one of those hiding suspicious assets in offshore tax haven, as revealed in the leaked Panama Papers.
“In defiance to extant procurement laws and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the senators have gone ahead to acquire the cars at prices that are twice the actual market value. It is barefaced stealing from the Nigerian people for the Senate to have paid N35.1 million for each of the Toyota Landcruiser purchased, while independent checks confirmed that the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV V6 2016 model is sold at N17 million,” the statement read in part.
According to the TMG, it is worrisome that
“the gluttons in the National Assembly cannot spare a thought for the millions of unemployed young Nigerians in the country, and make some sacrifices to free some resources”.
Calling on the president to take necessary measures to stop the purchase, Zikirullahi noted that ‘provocative steps’ of the senators remind the president and all Nigerians of the urgent need to vanquish all forms of corruption and greed from the system.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Commission has disowned the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, as its anti-corruption ambassador.
The commission was angered by the decoration of Ekweremadu and said that it did not authorise Suleiman Bakari, the National Assembly Liason officer, to confer such status on the deputy Senate president or any other politician for that matter.