SERAP sues Tinubu Govt over refusal to publish report detailing alleged N6trn loot of NDDC’s funds
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has sued President Bola Tinubu’s administration at the ECOWAS Court of Justice over the failure to publish the forensic report on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) documenting allegations of missing N6 trillion in the commission.
SERAP in a statement said the suit was filed together with four concerned Nigerians who are: Prince Taiwo Aiyedatiwa; Chief Jude Igbogifurotogu Pulemote; Ben Omietimi Tariye; and princess Elizabeth Egbe.
It said: “Following the allegations of grand corruption, the late former president Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC’s operations.
“Also, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike recently alleged that the wife of a former minister collected N48 billion over 12 months “to train Niger Delta women.”
In the suit number ECW/CCJ/APP/35/25 filed last Friday before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, the plaintiffs are seeking: “a declaration that the failure of the Nigerian government to publish the NDDC forensic report amounts to a fundamental breach of the country’s international human rights obligations.”
The plaintiffs are seeking “an order directing and compelling the Nigerian government to publish and ensure access to information to the NDDC forensic report which has been submitted to the government but remains shrouded in secrecy.”
The plaintiffs are also seeking “an order directing and compelling the Nigerian government to adopt and ensure effective measures to address transparency and accountability gaps in the spending of public funds budgeted for the NDDC.”
In the suit, the plaintiffs are arguing that, “The Nigerian government has violated our right to know the truth about the corruption allegations documented in the NDDC forensic report. The obstruction of the publication of the report is perpetrating impunity and the cover-up of the allegations documented in the report.”
The plaintiffs are also arguing that, “Implicit in freedom of expression is the public’s right to open access to information and to know what governments are doing on their behalf, without which truth would languish and people’s participation in government would remain fragmented and illusory.”
The plaintiffs are arguing that, “The Nigerian government has failed and refused to publish the NDDC forensic report and has failed to provide any reasons or grounds for withholding the report from the plaintiffs and the Nigerian public.”
According to the plaintiffs, “The Nigerian government has the legal obligations to guarantee and ensure transparency and access to information regarding the NDDC forensic report as a component of the right to seek, receive, and impart information of all kinds.”
