SERAP further demanded protection for Ibrahim Auro, a member of the House of Representatives representing Jigawa (APC), who first raised the alarm.<\/p>\n
In the open letter dated 16 August 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said, \u201cThe allegations that lawmakers pay bribes to present motions, bills and proposals at the National Assembly are a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office by lawmakers.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
SERAP said, \u201cLawmakers should not have to pay bribes to present motions and bills at the National Assembly. Bribery should never have any influence in the exercise of legislative duties or running of the National Assembly. These allegations of quid pro quo for lawmaking have seriously undermined Nigerians\u2019 democratic rights.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
According to SERAP, \u201cThe allegations that lawmakers are paying up to N3 million as bribes in exchange for presenting motions and bills make a mockery of lawmaking and legislative powers under section 4 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
The open letter, read in part, \u201cWe would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and\/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our requests in the public interest.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThese allegations have exposed how lawmakers are abusing their entrusted positions to deny Nigerians of their democratic rights.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cReferring the allegations to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for investigation and prosecution would improve public trust in the ability of the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure accountability in the exercise of lawmakers\u2019 constitutional and legislative functions.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cBy exercising strong and effective leadership in this matter, the National Assembly leadership can show Nigerians that the legislative body is a proper and accountable watchdog that represents and protects the public interest, and is able to hold itself to account in cases of corruption including bribery.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations also amount to fundamental breaches of the Nigerian Constitution and the country\u2019s anticorruption legislation and international obligations including under the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIbrahim Auyo is a whistleblower, who is protected under article 33 of the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party. Ibrahim Auyo is a whistleblower because of his public interest disclosures on alleged bribery to present motions and bills at the National Assembly.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP is concerned about the persistent allegations of corruption in the National Assembly and the prevailing culture of impunity of perpetrators.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cEnsuring the investigation of allegations that lawmakers pay between \u20a61 million and \u20a63 million to present bills, motions, and petitions and prosecution of suspected perpetrators would improve transparency and accountability in the National Assembly, and build trust in democratic institutions.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP notes that Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution requires public institutions including the National Assembly to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria has also made legally binding commitments under the UN Convention against Corruption to prevent and combat corruption including bribery. These commitments ought to be fully upheld and respected.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIbrahim Auyo had alleged that the process of presenting motions and bills at the National Assembly is financially prohibitive. According to him, \u2018Since I was elected as a member in 2015, no individual has given me a bill to pass. And also, even the bills and petitions are paid for.\u2019\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIbrahim Auyo, also said, \u2018You have to pay from N3 million, N2 million, or N1 million to present it. And after you present the bill, you must follow up by lobbying the whole 360 members of the House to accept the bill.\u2019\u201d SERAP is concerned that there may be similar unreported allegations of \u2018bribes for bills\u2019 in the Senate.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2025 Naija News, a division of Polance Media Inc. Contact us via [email\u00a0protected]<\/strong><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\nGodswill Akpabio, Headlines, SERAP, Tajudeen Abbas,Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SERAP Demands Probe Into Alleged \u20a63 Million Bribe-For-Bills At National Assembly The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the leadership of the National Assembly to urgently investigate allegations that lawmakers pay as much as \u20a63 million to present bills, motions, and petitions. In a statement issued on Sunday, SERAP urged Senate President, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[173],"tags":[624,584,1611,1612],"class_list":["post-234549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-godswill-akpabio","tag-headlines","tag-serap","tag-tajudeen-abbas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-09-at-16.23.48.jpeg\")