Court Orders FG To Account For $5bn Abacha L00t

An Abuja Federal High Court, in a landmark judgment has ordered the expense disclosure of $5 billion Sani Abacha l*ot recovered by the administration of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.

The court ordered the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government to “disclose the exact amount of money stol3n by General Sani Abacha from Nigeria, and the total amount of Abacha lo*t recovered and all agreements signed on same by the governments of former presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari.”

Justice James Omotosho delivered the judgement following a Freedom of Information suit numbered: FHC/ABJ/CS/407/2020, brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

Omotosho held that “In the final analysis, the application by SERAP is meritorious and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance is hereby ordered to furnish SERAP with the full spending details of about $5 billion Abacha l*ot within 7 days of this judgment.”

The judge also ordered the government to “disclose details of the projects executed with the Abacha l*ot, locations of any such projects and the names of companies and contractors that carried or carrying out the projects since the return of democracy in 1999 till date.”

He further requested the disclosure of “details of specific roles played by the World Bank and other partners in the execution of any projects funded with Abacha l*ot under the governments of former presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari.”

“The excuse by the Minister of Finance is that the Ministry has searched its records and the details of the exact public funds stol3n by Abacha and how the funds have been spent are not held by the Ministry. The excuse has no leg to stand in view of section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act,” Omotosho stated.

He however dismissed all the objections raised by the Federal Government and upheld SERAP’s arguments.