The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the disclosure of spending details of about $5 billion loot traced to former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha, by the governments of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.

This is as the court ordered President Bola Tinubu to disclose the exact amount of money stolen by Abacha from Nigeria, total amount recovered and all agreements signed by governments of presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari as it concerns the Abacha loot.

The judgment was delivered last week by Justice James Omotosho following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/407/2020, brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

In his judgment, Omotosho held: “In the final analysis, the application by SERAP is meritorious and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance is hereby ordered to furnish SERAP with the full spending details of about $5billion Abacha loot within seven days of this judgment.”

Omotosho ordered the government to “disclose details of the projects executed with the Abacha loot, locations of any such projects and the names of companies and contractors that carried or carrying out the projects since the return of democracy in 1999 till date.”

The judge also ordered government to disclose details of specific roles played by the World Bank and other partners in the execution of any projects funded with Abacha loot under the governments of former presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari.

He stated: “The excuse by the minister of finance is that the ministry has searched its records and the details of the exact public funds stolen by Abacha and how the funds have been spent are not held by the Ministry. The excuse has no leg to stand in view of section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act.”

Omotosho dismissed all the objections raised by the Federal Government and upheld SERAP’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP against the Federal Government.

The judgment, dated 3 July, 2023, read in part: “The failure of the Minister of Finance to write to SERAP informing it of where the said information exists or to transfer the request to public office who has custody of such information is fatal to their case under Section 5 of the Freedom of Information Act.

“The Ministry cannot use a blanket statement that it was not in possession of the said records of about $5 billion Abacha loot sought by SERAP. The government failed to provide details of the projects executed with the money. It also failed to provide locations of the projects and the names of the companies and contractors that carried out or are carrying out the projects funded with the money.

“I hold that by the clear wordings of Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, access to information about spending details of $5billion Abacha loot was denied SERAP by the Federal Government.