A federal high court in Abuja has ordered that the details
of the spending of $5 billion Abacha loot be made public.
In a judgment delivered on July 3, James Omotosho, presiding
judge, ordered President Bola Tinubu to “disclose the exact amount of money stolen
by General Sani Abacha from Nigeria”, the total amount recovered, and “all
agreements signed on same by the governments of former Presidents (Olusegun)
Obasanjo, (Umaru) Yar’Adua, (Goodluck) Jonathan and (Muhammadu) Buhari”.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/407/2020 was filed by the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
The court ordered the federal government through the
ministry of finance to furnish SERAP with the full spending details of the
Abacha loot within seven days of the judgment.
The court said the ministry of finance’s excuse of being
unable to account for the requested details “has no leg to stand in view of
section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act”.
The court dismissed all the objections raised by the federal
government and upheld SERAP’s arguments.
Consequently, Omotosho ordered the government to “disclose
details of the projects executed with the Abacha loot, locations of any such
projects and the names of companies and contractors that carried or (is)
carrying out the projects since the return of democracy in 1999 till date”.
The court also ordered the disclosure of “details of
specific roles played by the World Bank and other partners in the execution of
any projects funded with Abacha loot under the governments of former presidents
Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari”.
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