A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the Federal Government to “immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered and the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official.”
The judgment was delivered on Wednesday by Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari following a Freedom of Information, FoI, suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016 brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP.
Recently, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Itse Sagay, said that “55 public officials and businessmen under the administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan stole over N1.35trillion.” He was re-echoing what the minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had said last year.
This revelation formed the basis for the suit by SERAP.
In her judgment Justice Shagari agreed with SERAP that “the Federal Government has a legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.”
Joined as defendants in the suit are the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
The judge also granted the following reliefs: A DECLARATION that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Defendants are under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to the following:
To widely disseminate including on a dedicated website information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered since May 2015 The circumstances under which stolen public funds were returned SERAP is now processing a certified true copy of the judgment.
SERAP’s deputy director, Timothy Adewale, who argued the case on behalf of organisation, reacted to the ruling thus: “This is a victory for justice, rule of law, transparency and accountability in this country. The judgment shows the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators. We will do everything within the law to ensure full compliance by President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Osinbajo with this landmark judgment”.
The Ministry of Information had last year published details of the recoveries, which showed the Nigerian government as successfully retrieving a total cash sum of N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 between May 29, 2015 and May 25, 2016.
Also released were recoveries under interim forfeiture, which were a combination of cash and assets, during the same period: N126,563,481,095.43, $9,090,243,920.15, £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17.
The government said anticipated repatriation from foreign countries totalled: $321,316,726.1, £6,900,000 and €11,826.11.
