NIGERIA: COURT ORDERS OBASANJO, JONATHAN AND YAR'ADUA TO ACCOUNT FOR RECOVERED LOOT

In a landmark judgement, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has held that successive governments since the return of democracy in Nigeria 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".
The court in its ruling ordered current President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to
"ensure 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".

The judgement was delivered by Justice M.B. Idris on Friday following a Freedom of Information suit brought by Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The court ordered that the following details be disclosed: 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.

Justice Idris upheld SERAP's arguments and dismissed all objections raised by the Federal Government.