Court orders FG, Okonjo-Iweala to account for ‘missing N30tn’

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.”