Rights group tackles Nasarawa govt on subvention disclosures
The Civil Society Network against Corruption (CSNAC) is asking a High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa state to compel the government to disclose information on subventions and allowances to the legislators of its House of Assembly.
The legal step by CSNAC, a coalition of over 150 anticorruption organisations followed the failure of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly to respond to its request issued by the chairman of the coalition, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju demanding for the information.
The defendants are the Speaker of the Nasarawa state House of Assembly and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Nasarawa state.
According to the group, a letter was written to the Governor of the state on September 9, 2013 requesting for the official information on payment for new State House of Assembly complex. The Permanent Secretary Government House Administration, Usman I. Abu on October 29 2013 replied partially but directed the coalition to seek further information from the house of assembly.
Mr. Suraju on behalf of CSNAC on November 13, 2013 wrote the Speaker of the house for the official information on subventions and allowances of the house members, it said.
The Clerk of the House Ego Maikeffi Abashe wrote that ‘’ the information cannot be released to the plaintiff owing to the fact that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is investigating the matter regarding the said information”.
Not satisfied with this reply, the group headed to court to seek an order compelling the legislators to release the information together with an order for N1million general