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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged President Bola Tinubu to court over alleged failure to investigate 'missing' oil revenues earmarked for fuel subsidy payment over a three-year period.
The group said Tinubu's "failure to probe the allegations that $2.1 billion and ₦3.1 trillion public funds of oil revenues and budgeted as fuel subsidy payments are missing and unaccounted for between 2016 and 2019,” necessitated its action.
This was contained in a statement on Sunday, June 11, 2023, by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, who said the lawsuit followed the frightening revelations documented by the Auditor-General of the Federation in the 2016 and 2019 annual reports that the public funds are missing.
SERAP, in suit number FHC/L/CS/1107/23 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, is seeking “an order of mandamus to direct and compel President Tinubu to promptly probe allegations that USD$2.1 billion and ₦3.1 trillion public funds are missing and unaccounted for between 2016 and 2019.”
The group also sought “an order of mandamus to compel President Tinubu to direct the anti-corruption agencies to promptly probe fuel subsidy payments made by governments since the return of democracy in 1999, name and shame and prosecute suspected perpetrators, and to recover any proceeds of crimes.”
SERAP also wants the court to compel President Tinubu to channel any proceeds recovered after the probe into providing palliatives to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal on poor Nigerians and to put in place mechanisms for transparency and accountability in the oil sector.
“The allegations that US$2.1 billion and ₦3.1 trillion of public funds are missing and unaccounted amount to a fundamental breach of national anti-corruption laws and the country’s international obligations including under the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.
“The Tinubu government has constitutional and international legal obligations to get to the bottom of these allegations and ensure accountability for these serious crimes against the Nigerian people,” the statement read.
The suit was filed on behalf of SERAP by its team of lawyers comprising, Kolawole Oluwadare, Ms Adelanke Aremo, Valentina Adegoke, and Ayomide Johnson.