The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend the proposed salary increase for political office holders.

Sunday Telegraph has earlier reported that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) announced it’s plan to increase the salary of office holders including the President, Vice-President, Governors, their deputies, and lawmakers.

In a letter dated Saturday, August 23, 2025, and signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation described the proposal as “Patently unlawful and unconstitutional.”

SERAP urged Tinubu to direct the RMAFC to halt the pay rise, which it argues violates Nigeria’s Constitution and international human rights obligations.

The organization also called on the President and Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to comply with a 2021 Federal High Court ruling by Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor, which mandated the RMAFC to review and reduce lawmakers’ salaries to reflect Nigeria’s economic realities.

SERAP criticised the RMAFC for prioritising salary increases for politicians at a time when over 133 million Nigerians live in poverty and many state governments struggle to pay workers’ salaries and pensions.

The organisation described the move as a “Gross misuse” of the RMAFC’s mandate, emphasising that the commission lacks the authority to arbitrarily raise salaries without considering public interest or economic challenges.

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SERAP urged Tinubu to reject the pay rise and encourage other political leaders to do the same, warning that failure to act within seven days could lead to legal action to enforce compliance.

The letter read in part: “The imminent pay rise for political and public office holders in Nigeria particularly the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers is a gross misuse of the RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates.

“The RMFAC has neither unrestrained constitutional and statutory mandates nor unbridled discretion to increase the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers.

“On the basis of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, the country’s international human rights obligations and the legal doctrine of reasonableness, the RMAFC has improperly and incorrectly exercised its constitutional and statutory mandates by increasing the salaries of political office holders.

“We 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 take all appropriate legal actions to compel your government and RMFAC to comply with our request in the public interest.

“RMFAC seems to act consistently to give advantage to political office holders over the interests of poor Nigerians. The RMFAC, in the exercise of its constitutional and statutory mandates ought to balance the interests of the marginalised and vulnerable sectors of the population against the ‘interests’ of political office holders.

“The RMFAC ought to prioritise cutting the excessive amounts yearly budgeted as allowances for political office holders and life pensions for former presidents, vice-presidents, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers.

“The idea of representative democracy, fairness and equality and non-discrimination would mean little if the salaries of political office holders are arbitrarily increased while millions of poor Nigerians continue to pass through harrowing times and watch their standards of living plummet.