What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

When it emerged that Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the Nyendo-Mukungwe lawmaker, had received Shs500 million as an ex gratia payment, his National Unity Platform (NUP) party—led by its principal, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine—not only took offence. The party also thought it had both moral and legal grounds to punish him.

“This law provides that where this provision is violated, the leader must cease to be a member of that public body or commission and make good the loss caused to the public,” Mr Kyagulanyi said, with the musician-turned-politician also citing a 2019 Supreme Court judgment in which the country’s apex court adjudged that the Parliamentary Commission had no powers to impose any charge on the Consolidated Fund in the absence of a Bill or motion generated by the Executive.

Speaking in March of 2024, Mr Kyagulanyi said the court judgment illegalised lawmakers increasing “their salaries and emoluments without such a Bill or motion”.

Never a legal question?

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