A group of legislative lawyers under the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) has initiated legal proceedings to compel Nigerian senators to refund a significant portion of their salaries and allowances received since 2023, citing poor performance and dereliction of duty.
According to documents obtained on Tuesday, the lawyers have served a pre-action notice to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, demanding that all 109 senators refund 78% of their salaries and allowances collected between May 2023 and May 2025 due to what they describe as just "12% performance" of their statutory duties.
The notice, dated May 26, 2025, and signed by ALDRAP's Administrative Secretary, Amuga Jesse Williams, also specifically targets 40 senators who allegedly hold concurrent memberships in the ECOWAS and Pan-African parliaments, demanding they make a total refund of all salaries and allowances received during this period.
"Due to dissatisfaction with the legislative services provided by the said 109 senators, we, the constituents and consumers, write to make the following demands under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Act, 2018," the letter states.
The lawyers are approaching the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal as consumers dissatisfied with services received from the senators. They have given the Senate seven days to comply or face legal action.
In an affidavit supporting their case, ALDRAP cited empirical findings by Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, an expert in legislative law, highlighting several instances of alleged legislative failure, including:
- Enacting Executive Bills without proper public hearings or scrutiny
- Improperly supporting a State of Emergency in Rivers State without constitutional compliance
- Focusing primarily on Executive-sponsored Bills while neglecting private member bills
- Failing to adequately address critical national issues like security and food security
The affidavit also referenced a report by OrderPaper, Nigeria's parliamentary monitoring organization, which revealed that the Senate introduced 475 Bills from June 2023 to May 2024 but passed only 19. In the following year, only seven out of 341 Bills were passed.
The lawyers further alleged that several senators violated Section 68(1)(a) of the Nigerian Constitution by accepting appointments to the ECOWAS Parliament and Pan-African Parliament while still serving as Nigerian lawmakers.
"This dual occupancy and remuneration from both offices is contrary to the Constitution and offends the principle of legislative integrity and accountability," the affidavit stated.
The pre-action notice was copied to several high-ranking officials, including the President of Nigeria, the Chief Justice, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Governor of the Central Bank, and the Secretary-Generals of both the ECOWAS and Pan-African Parliaments.
ALDRAP argues that unless the court compels the appropriate bodies to investigate and order recovery of the received salaries and allowances, continued abuse of legislative authority would persist to the detriment of Nigerian citizens.
