Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a
lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari over failure to “disclose
information and documents relating to the names of people from whom N800
billion in looted public funds have been recovered, specific dates of
the recovery, and details of projects on which the money has been
spent.”
The President had in paragraph 78 of his speech to mark the occasion of
the Democracy Day on June 12, 2020, stated that: “the government has
recovered looted funds in excess of N800 billion. These monies are being
ploughed into development and infrastructure projects.”
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1064/2020 filed last Friday at the Federal
High Court, Abuja, SERAP is seeking: “an order for leave to apply for
judicial review and an order of mandamus to direct and/or compel
President Buhari to publish a comprehensive list of names of people from
whom N800 billion in looted funds have been recovered, the details of
spending of the money, and the specific dates of the recovery.”
SERAP is also seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel
President Buhari to instruct appropriate anti-corruption agencies to
promptly, thoroughly and transparently investigate the alleged payment
of N51 billion of public funds into individual private accounts in
2019.”
Joined in the suit as Respondents are Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Mrs Zainab Ahmed,
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: “The court ought to compel the
Respondents to disclose the details and whereabouts of the public funds.
There is no legally justifiable reason why the information should not be
made widely available to Nigerians, especially as the Nigerian
Constitution of 1999 (as amended) requires the government in section
15(5) to abolish all forms of corruption. That means ensuring
transparency and accountability in the management of public resources
and wealth.”
The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information (FoI) request dated 13
June 2020 to President Buhari, stating that: “The public has a right to
know how recovered N800bn loot has been spent, and the details and
purpose of the alleged payments of N51bn into individual private
accounts. Transparency over transactions by the government is critical
to ensuring public confidence in the integrity of the management of
public resources and wealth.”
SERAP is also arguing that: “Granting the reliefs sought will ensure
transparency and accountability, as the information sought to be
published will reveal the truth of where the money is going and why it
is there, and allow Nigerians an opportunity to assess the impacts of
any projects carried out with the recovered loot and the alleged
payments into individual private accounts.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and
Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part: “As a signatory to the UN Convention
against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and
Combating Corruption, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights, Nigeria has committed to ensuring transparent management of
public resources, and unhindered access to public information. These
commitments ought to be fully upheld and respected.”
“Transparency and accountability in governance are in the public
interest. Publishing the details regarding the N800 billion recovered
loot and investigating the alleged suspicious payments into personal
accounts would be entirely consistent with Nigeria’s international
anti-corruption commitments.”
“The authorities are required to set the highest standards of
transparency, accountability and probity in the management of these
resources and wealth, and the programmes that they oversee.”
“Disclosing the details of projects on which the N800bn recovered loot
have been spent and publishing a comprehensive list of names of people
from whom they have been recovered, as well as investigating the alleged
payment of billions of naira into individual private accounts, would be
entirely consistent with the oft-expressed anti-corruption commitments
by the government.”
It would be recalled that BudgIT, a civic tech organization, recently
reported that “the open treasury portal by the federal government
allegedly showed that payments totalling N51bn were made into individual
accounts in 2019.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.