SUN JULY 20 2025-theGBJournal| The government of President Bola Tinubu is being sued for failure to publish the report of the forensic audit carried out on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and four concerned Nigerians announced the initiation of suit on Sunday, seeking answers to questions raised in the report which allegedly indicted high-ranking officials and politicians over missing N6 trillion from the commission between 2001 and 2019.
The four concerned Nigerians in the suit are: prince Taiwo Aiyedatiwa; chief Jude Igbogifurotogu Pulemote; Ben Omietimi Tariye; and princess Elizabeth Egbe.
The forensic audit on NDDC’s operation was ordered by the late former president Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, following allegations of grand corruption in the Commission.
Interestingly, the suit comes after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike recently alleged that the wife of a former minister collected N48 billion over 12 months “to train Niger Delta women.
The suit is filed on behalf of SERAP and the four concerned Nigerians by their lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi and Andrew Nwankwo.
In the suit number ECW/CCJ/APP/35/25 filed last Friday before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, 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.”
The plaintiffs are 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.”
The plaintiffs are also seeking “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.”
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