National Assembly Committed Crimes against Humanity, Says SERAP

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has accused the National Assembly of “apparently engaging in crimes against humanity and Nigerians by unilaterally cutting funding for critical projects such as health, water, education, housing and security, and replacing such projects with their own personal projects totalling 6,403 projects and amounting to N578 billion.”

SERAP’s Deputy Director, Mr. Timothy Adewale alleged in a statement yesterday that the lawmakers cut funding for over 4,000 critical projects amounting to N347 billion.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami to open discussions with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to establish whether substantial grounds and the requisite elements exist to warrant the intervention of the prosecutor in this case.

Adewale noted that under the Rome Statute, the prosecutor has power to intervene in a situation under the jurisdiction of the court if a state party, such as Nigeria, refers a situation to the court.

According to him, indicting individual lawmakers suspected to be most responsible for the reduction of funding for critical projects would provide a much-needed measure of accountability for leaders who have traditionally acted with impunity.