Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said it has filed a lawsuit before the Federal High Court, Abuja against President Buhari over his failure to publish details of names of people from whom N800 billion in looted funds have been recovered, dates of the recovery, and details of projects on which the money has been spent.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, SERAP recalled that Buhari had in paragraph 78 of his speech to mark the occasion of the Democracy Day on June 12, 2020, stated that: “the government has recovered looted funds in excess of N800 billion. These monies are being ploughed into development and infrastructure projects.”

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1064/2020 filed on Friday, SERAP is seeking: “an order for leave to apply for judicial review & an order of mandamus to direct & compel President Buhari to publish details of spending of N800bn in looted funds & the specific dates of the recovery.”

SERAP is also seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel President Buhari to instruct appropriate anti-corruption agencies to promptly, thoroughly and transparently investigate alleged payment of N51bn of public funds into individual private accounts in 2019.”

Joined in the suit as respondents are Mr Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

“There is no reason why the information should not be made widely available to Nigerians, as the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) requires the government in Section 15(5) to abolish all forms of corruption. That means ensuring transparency in the management of public resources.”

Credit: Nigerian Tribune