Group sues FG over non-release of NDDC forensic audit report

AGF Fagbemi

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and four concerned Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the government of President Bola Tinubu over its failure to publish the report of the forensic audit carried out on the Niger Delta Development Commission.

According to SERAP, this report implicated top officials and politicians in the disappearance of N6 trillion from the agency between 2001 and 2019.

The development was disclosed in a statement by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare,
on Sunday.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 ordered the forensic audit following widespread allegations of grand corruption within the NDDC.

SERAP stated that more recently, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, alleged that the wife of a former minister received N48bn over 12 months “to train Niger Delta women.”

The plaintiffs in the suit include Prince Taiwo Aiyedatiwa, Chief Jude Igbogifurotogu Pulemote, Ben Omietimi Tariye, and Princess Elizabeth Egbe.

Filed last Friday before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja and marked ECW/CCJ/APP/35/25, 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.”

They are also 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,” and “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 argue, “The Nigerian government has violated our right to know the truth about the corruption allegations documented in the NDDC forensic report.