Court to deliver judgment on missing $12.4bn oil windfall suit today

The Federal High Court in Abuja will today deliver final judgment on the missing $12.4 billion suit.  

This development followed the hearing of arguments and re-adoption of written addresses by lawyers to the parties in September before Justice Gabriel Kolawole.

Sola Egbeyinka of Falana Chambers, solicitor to the registered trustees of Socio-Economic and Accountability Project (SERAP) and five other right groups that instituted the suit will be present in court for the judgment.

At the hearing in September, the Federal Government insisted that the enactment by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Idris Legbo Kutigi, of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 “exceeded his constitutional powers by liberalising the rules on locus standi, permitting public impact litigation, and allowing the inclusion of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the Rules.”

The government also said that it could not find the Okigbo report, and had no duty to render account on the spending of the accrued revenue. 

The plaintiffs disagreed, arguing that “such duty exists on the basis of Article 9 of the African Charter, which has become part of our national laws. Also, the Freedom of Information Act has been enacted which also imposes a legal duty on public institutions and agencies to render account, and allow access to public documents.”

 It was also argued for the government that “only the AGF as a defender of public interest has the right to seek information on the spending of the $12.4 billion oil windfall,” and that the Plaintiffs have no such right. 

The plaintiffs countered by saying that it was “the failure of the AGF to carry out his duty in this respect,” that prompted their legal action against the government in the first place.