Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and four concerned Nigerians have sued the government of President Bola Tinubu at Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice, Abuja, over failure to publish the report of the forensic audit carried out on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which allegedly indicted high-ranking officials and politicians over missing N6 trillion from the commission between 2001 and 2019.

Following the allegations of grand corruption, the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019, ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC’s operations. Also, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, recently alleged that the wife of a former minister collected N48 billion over 12 months to train women from the Niger Delta.

The four concerned Nigerians in the suit are Prince Taiwo Aiyedatiwa, Jude Igbogifurotogu Pulemote, Ben Omietimi Tariye, and Princess Elizabeth Egbe.

In the suit number ECW/CCJ/APP/35/25 filed over the weekend, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the failure of the Nigerian government to publish the NDDC forensic report amounts to a fundamental breach of the country’s international human rights obligations.

They are seeking an order directing and compelling the Nigerian government to publish and ensure access to the NDDC forensic report, which has been submitted to the government but remains shrouded in secrecy.

The plaintiffs are also seeking an order directing and compelling the Nigerian government to adopt and ensure effective measures to address transparency and accountability gaps in the spending of public funds budgeted for the NDDC.

In the suit, the plaintiffs argued that the Nigerian government violated citizens’ right to know the truth about the corruption allegations documented in the NDDC forensic report. They noted that the obstruction of the publication of the report is perpetrating impunity and the cover-up of the allegations documented in the report.

They are also arguing that implicit in freedom of expression is the public’s right to have access to information and to know what governments are doing on their behalf, without which truth would languish and people’s participation in government would remain fragmented and illusory.