Senator Yemi Adaramodu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, has stated that individual lawmakers should not be held responsible for legal issues arising from the procurement of official vehicles for members of the National Assembly.
The senator, who represents Ekiti South Senatorial District, said legislators have no involvement in the procurement process and are not parties to transactions relating to the acquisition of official vehicles. He made the clarification while reacting to a recent court ruling concerning the controversial N110 billion vehicle procurement scheme.
According to Adaramodu, the responsibility for purchasing and assigning official vehicles lies solely with the administrative arm of the National Assembly. He explained that the bureaucracy determines the vehicles required for committee work and legislative duties before allocating them to lawmakers.
“The bureaucracy determines and provides official vehicles for committee work and legislative assignments. No vehicle is registered in the name of any senator,” he said.
He further noted that the vehicles remain government property throughout a lawmaker’s tenure and are used strictly for official assignments. He added that senators can only acquire such vehicles at the end of their service through approved government procedures and payment arrangements.
The lawmaker argued that any legal challenge concerning the vehicle procurement process should target the relevant administrative departments responsible for conducting the transactions rather than elected legislators.
“Senators were not taken to court. Procurement is handled by the appropriate departments within the National Assembly bureaucracy. Legislators have no role in the purchasing process,” he stated.
The comments followed a ruling by the Federal High Court in Lagos, which declared the N110 billion vehicle procurement and allowance scheme unlawful. The case was filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
In his judgment, Justice Bogoro held that the expenditure violated procurement regulations, constitutional provisions and public trust principles. He ruled that beneficiaries of the spending approved the expenditure themselves, creating a conflict of interest.
“The beneficiaries of the expenditure are the very officials approving it, and the expenditure confers direct pecuniary and material benefits. This to my mind constitutes a case of self-dealing and conflict of interest,” the judge ruled.
