Court orders Obasanjo, Yar'Adua, Jonathan's government to account for stolen funds

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former president Goodluck Jonathan and late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's government to account for all the loots they recovered during their administrations, Vanguard reports.

Delivering judgement in a Freedom of Information suit filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) today March 1st, the presiding judge, Justice M.B. Idris, ruled that successive governments since the return of democracy in 1999 “breached the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability for failing to disclose details about the spending of recovered stolen public funds, including on a dedicated website.”

He thereafter ordered that President Buhari “ensures that his government, and the governments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and former President Goodluck Jonathan account fully for all recovered loot.”.

Details ordered by the court to be made public include: information on the total amount of recovered stolen public assets by each government; the amount of recovered stolen public assets spent by each government as well as the objects of such spending and the projects on which such funds were spent.