On Tuesday, a federal high court sitting in Lagos ruled that successive governments since 1999 erred by not publicising details of stolen funds that had been recovered.
The judgment, delivered by M.B. Idris, a justice, following a freedom of information suit no: FHC/IKJ/CS/248/2011, brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), directed the President Muhammadu Buhariled government to “ensure that his
government, and the governments of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (late) and Goodluck Jonathan account fully for all recovered loot”.
Idris said previous governments had breached the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability for failing to disclose details of the spending of recovered stolen public funds.
The court therefore called for the following: total amount of recovered stolen public assets by each government; amount of recovered stolen public assets spent by each government; objects of such spending and the projects on which such funds were spent.
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