The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to prosecute those hiding the report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2000 and 2019.
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP Deputy Director, in a statement on Sunday called on President Tinubu to direct Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, to promptly investigate the allegations that high-ranking officials and politicians indicted in the report obstructed it’s publication.
SERAP has, therefore, urged Tinubu “to direct AGF Fagbemi and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to promptly identify those responsible for obstructing the release of the report and bring them to justice for obstruction of justice.”
SERAP also urged the president “to direct Fagbemi to immediately publish the NDDC forensic report and to name and shame those responsible for the alleged embezzlement of over N6 trillion in the commission, bring them to justice and recover any proceeds of corruption, and provide adequate compensation to victims.”
“While the audit report may make uncomfortable reading for the indicted officials and politicians, your government has a constitutional responsibility to publish it and act upon its recommendations,” Oluwadare said.
“The forensic audit report of the NDDC can no longer be left to gather dust. The continued failure to publish the audit report undermines public trust and confidence, particularly of victims of corruption in the Niger Delta who have waited far too long for justice and accountability.
“Obstructing the release of the forensic audit report or hiding it is a grave and wilful attempt to obstruct, prevent and pervert the course of justice for the allegations of corruption in the NDDC.”
According to Oluwadare, obstructing the release of the forensic audit report or hiding it, and delaying the implementation of its recommendations have enabled suspected perpetrators to evade justice and denied access to justice for victims.
He added that SERAP would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of the statement.
“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions before the ECOWAS Court of Justice to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest,” he said.
Oluwadare stated that there is a legitimate public interest in publishing the full forensic audit report of the forensic audit on the NDDC and naming and shaming those responsible for leaving the report to gather dust and bringing them to justice.
He explained that the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in article 25 requires Tinubu’s government to penalise any conduct which wrongly interferes, directly or indirectly, with the initiation, progress, or outcome of any investigation into allegations of corruption.
According to the SERAP deputy director, victims of grand corruption in the Niger Delta would lose faith in public investigations of corruption if the audit report is not immediately published and its recommendations acted upon.
He also pointed out that the victims would like to see the recommendations and what progress has been made to make the NDDC fit for purpose.
“The failure to publish the report and fully implement its recommendations would seem to suggest that the forensic audit was not commissioned to provide transparency and accountability, but merely as a ruse to defer and avoid it,” Oluwadare said.
“The extraordinary delay in publishing the report is contrary to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international anti-corruption and human rights obligations.”
According to the statement, no less than N1.4 billion was reportedly approved for the auditors who carried out the NDDC forensic audit.
Oluwadare said the fact that the forensic audit undertaken at public expense has been gathering dust on an official’s desk for several years shows the failure of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to deliver justice for the people of the Niger Delta who are the primary victims of alleged corruption in the NDDC.
He said bringing those suspected to be responsible for the grand corruption documented in the NDDC forensic report and recovering any proceeds of corruption would advance the right of Nigerians to restitution, compensation and guarantee of non-repetition and improve public confidence in the fight against corruption.
“The audit report raises prima facie evidence of grand corruption and its staggering effects in the Niger Delta. Nigerians have the right to know the names of those responsible for obstructing the publication of the forensic audit report,” Oluwadare said.
“Section 15 subsection (5) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] requires your government to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.”
“SERAP is concerned that despite the country’s enormous oil wealth, ordinary Nigerians have derived very little benefit from trillions of naira budgeted for socio-economic development in the region primarily because of widespread grand corruption, and the entrenched culture of impunity of perpetrators.”
