The Senate on Monday described the suit seeking to stop it from expending N5.5billion to purchase official vehicles for its principal officers as an “exercise in futility.”
Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and Enough is Enough (EiE), had filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos to prevent the purchase and release of funds by the National Assembly Service Commission “until the downward review of the amount proposed by the Senate.”
But Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Adedayo Adeyeye, who spoke with reporters on Monday, dismissed the move.
He said: “It (suit) is an exercise in futility; a complete exercise in futility. Even I as a Senator have not heard anything about that.
“So why will people be relying on rumour and newspaper reports? I wouldn’t know and in any case, if the Senate is going to spend that (amount); if it is budgeted for, then it means it is purely legal.”
He queried the inability of the CSOs to focus on other arms of government.
“So why will the National Assembly be different? Why are they focusing on the National Assembly and not looking at the Executive, Judiciary arms of government? All of these people are entitled to official cars and do use official cars.
“Directors of agencies, even minor officials in agencies use official cars. So why will the National Assembly be different? Why should it be a problem that the National Assembly is entitled to cars, to use official cars?
“Some of the vehicles they bought four years ago were no longer serviceable while others have probably been sold to their users,” he added.