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Wednesday 5 July 2017

Court orders FG to publish names of suspected Looters

Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari of the Federal High Court in Lagos today ordered the Federal Government to immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high-ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered and the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount recovered from each public official.


Justice Shagari gave the order while delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016 brought before her by civil organization, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). SERAP had filed the lawsuit after the Ministry of Information released a statement last year saying it had recovered some money from some public officers from May 2015 to May 2016. SERAP had approached the Ministry of Information for a comprehensive list of those that the loots were recovered from, threatening to take legal action if the list wasn't provided within 14 days.

Upon the expiration of the ultimatum, SERAP filed the lawsuit. Joined as Defendants in the suit were the Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Muhammed and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. Justice Shagari while delivering judgement today, granted the following reliefs: -A declaration that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Defendants are under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to the following: -To widely disseminate including a dedicated website information about the names of high-ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered since May 2015, the circumstances under which stolen public funds were returned. In the statement released last year, the Ministry of Information said the Federal government had successfully retrieved total cash amount N78,325,354,631.82, $185,119,584.61, £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 between May 29th 2015 to May 25th 2016. Also released were recoveries under interim forfeiture, which were a combination of cash and assets, during the same period: N126,563,481,095.43, $9,090,243,920.15, £2,484,447.55 and €303,399.17. Loots stocked in foreign accounts which were expected to be repatriated totalled: $321,316,726.1, £6,900,000 and €11,826.11.

The ministry also announced that 239 non-cash recoveries were made during the one-year period. The non-cash recoveries are – farmlands, plots of land, uncompleted buildings, completed buildings, vehicles and maritime vessels. Speaking after the judgment today, Deputy Director of SERAP, Timothy Adewale, said the organization will do everything to ensure full compliance by President Buhari and acting president Yemi Osinbajo "The judgment shows the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators. We will do everything within the law to ensure full compliance by President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Osinbajo with this landmark judgment”he said

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Hahahahahaha. If they are not ready they should ask the general public to do so.

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha hahahaha my country is so funny...nuel

Anonymous said...

Will it be revealed? If done, it should help Nigeria enormously. The shame and the fear should have an effect on future looters. A country where one who steals hundred naira is burned and one who steals hundred million is honoured!

voice of reason said...

hope federal govt.will comply with the judgement.

Unknown said...

They won't try it cus they not sure of their selves also.

NaijaDeltaBabe said...

Gbam!


... Merited happiness

Unknown said...

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Unknown said...

Yes we need to know where all those looting enter biko

Anonymous said...

Same document we've been requesting for years now but no response. It's like speaking to deaf ears. Perhaps, this recent filing will lead to some movement in the right direction. QED@AllTribesMatter

Anonymous said...

Wow, just received info on the federal govt consenting to publishing the names of looters of our common wallet. This is great news on a number of fronts: transparency, openess, furtherance of democratic ideals and a warning to would-be thieves/white-collar criminals that it isn't business as usual. Following this, the govt should also, set up a white collar criminals online registry accessible to all Naijas and foreign partners: embassies will key into this database to ensure such criminal elements are not given visas nor invited into Europe/the U.S.A/other for any type of exchanges. Time to really take care of Naija youths and peoples by her so-called leaders and stop the incessant treks to Libya inorder to get to Europe for a better life of which many drown in the Mediterranean Sea. QED@atm

Unknown said...

waiting

Unknown said...

After you've finished making all the necessary adjustments and kept what you want now u wanna come make it look like you're working.. Nigerians aren't as gullible as they used to be better luck next time.

Emy said...

Just diversion from the truth, that this apc govt has failed woefully. Just imagine the kind of people running the affairs of this country. No vision, No leadership. Just bunch of confused acclaimed 'literates' with no leadership qualities. ndi itiboribo.

Unknown said...

They wont. Bcos, they recovered d money,re_looted it

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