SERAP sues CBN over $6.23m missing election funds, N1.63tr public funds

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with clarifying allegations that some of the postings and deployments recently carried out by the electoral body gave preference to officials from President Bola Tinubu’s South-West.

Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over its failure to account for missing $6.23 million election funds and over N1.63 trillion other public funds.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC claimed to have intelligence and “direct complaints” regarding recent personnel changes and redeployments in some of the commission’s “strategic departments and stations.”

The opposition party said it received information that many officers from the North who had served in departments like Electoral Operations and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) were being redeployed to other departments.

“We have specific names of officers moved from Electoral Operations and ICT in a number of northern states and replaced with officers from Lagos and other South-West states. INEC may dismiss this as routine. But we have noticed a pattern, especially along ethnic lines, and we are concerned,” the party said.

ADC said while it is not accusing INEC of any “nefarious” plans yet, it believes that any suspicion or allegation that potentially undermines trust in and the credibility of the electoral umpire must not be dismissed lightly, “especially if those allegations border on sectional bias that could actively undermine the neutrality of election officials and the commission’s own impartiality.”

The party urged INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to publish the postings, selection criteria and reasons for the changes to reassure all citizens in every part of the country that they would be treated fairly and their electoral choice would not be undermined just because they speak a different language or come from another part of the country.
SERAP’S suit followed grim allegations documented in Volume II of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF)’s 2023 Annual Report, published on August 7, 2026. The findings cover various periods between January and December 2023.

The funds include $6.23 million in payments linked to an allegedly fraudulent election-funding request purportedly made by former President Muhammadu Buhari; over N1.25 trillion in unrecovered CBN intervention loans to state governments; N116.18 billion in loans to distressed and liquidated banks, and N262.86 billion disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2450/2026 filed at the weekend, SERAP is seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel the CBN to account for $6.23 million in allegedly diverted or unaccounted-for election funds and over N1.63 trillion in other public funds.

The group is asking the court to compel the CBN to disclose the purposes, beneficiaries, repayment status, recovery measures and findings of the CBN’s internal investigation into the alleged election-funding fraud, to identify the officers and other persons responsible for approving and disbursing the affected public funds, and disclose the disciplinary or administrative action taken.

The organisation further wants the apex bank to disclose records concerning the seven boxes of currency notes awaiting examination, as well as abandoned and unserviced vehicles at its Lagos branch and bullion vans at its Abeokuta branch.

SERAP is arguing that the allegations by the AuGF suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the CBN Act, national anti-corruption laws and Nigeria’s obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

It said the magnitude and nature of the findings raise fundamental questions about the custody, expenditure, accounting, safeguarding and recovery of public resources.

According to SERAP, the CBN’s institutional independence cannot reasonably be understood as immunity from constitutional audit, statutory accounting requirements, public financial oversight, access to information or investigation of credible allegations of fraud and other financial misconduct.

In the suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, Andrew Nwankwo and Kelechi Anwu, the body said, the findings involving public resources on the scale identified by the AuGF require credible investigation capable of establishing the facts, identifying responsibility and securing recovery where public funds have been unlawfully lost.