The
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered former Minister of Finance,
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Goodluck Jonathan led administration to account for N30 trillion said to have been
missing or unaccounted for while they were in government.
Justice
Ibrahim Buba had given the order in a Freedom of Information suit number
FHC/L/CS/196/2015 filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP).
SERAP’s
filed the suit following revelations by the former Governor of Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, that at least N30 trillion “has either been
stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged over the last few years under
the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala’s watch.” SERAP had approached the court to order the former
Minister and the Federal government to provide it with information on the said
N30 trillion.
Delivering
judgement in the suit last week, Justice Buba said,
“Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have no legally justifiable reason for
refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested for. The Court has
gone through the application and agrees that SERAP’s application has merits and
the argument is not opposed. SERAP’s application is granted as prayed.”
The
judgment by Buba reads in part:
“Preliminary
objection by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government is misconceived, the
court upholds the arguments by SERAP for the reasons stated herein.
“SERAP
commenced this proceeding by way of Originating Summons dated 23 February 2015
and filed 25 February 2015. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government filed
a Memorandum of Conditional Appearance, a Notice of Preliminary Objection and
written address, all undated but filed on 29 September 2015.
“The
preliminary objection is on the following grounds: that SERAP did not obtain
the mandatory leave of the Federal High Court to issue and serve the
Originating Summons and other processes outside Lagos State; that there is no
mandatory endorsement on the Originating Summons that it is to be served on Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government in Abuja and outside jurisdiction of
this Court.
“The
only issue for determination is whether Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal
government should be heard on their preliminary objection considering the
totality of the circumstances of this case.
“He
who wants equity must do equity. This suit was filed on 25 February 2015 and
from the record of the court was served on Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal
Government on 3 July, 2015. It took about 3 months for them to come up with
technical response to the simple request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2011.
“Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have therefore been caught by Order 29
of the Rules of this Court, which requires that an application shall be made
within 21 days after service on the Defendants of the originating summons.
“If
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government want to raise issues about
service, the law does not permit of demurer. The proper route for them should
have been to join issues with the originating summons and also file their
objections. In the present case by SERAP, the Notice of Preliminary Objection
by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and the federal government is incurably defective for not
conforming to order 29 of the Rules of this Court.”
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