Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project says it has commenced contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, for their alleged failure to publish the details of recovered loots and how the funds were spent.
The group had obtained a judgment from a Federal High Court in Lagos ordering the Federal Government to give “(a) detailed information on the total amount of recovered stolen public assets that have so far been recovered by Nigeria (b) the amount that has been spent from the recovered stolen public assets and the objects of such spending and (c) details of projects on which recovered stolen public assets were spent.”
SERAP, however claimed, in a statement on Monday by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, that since the judgment was delivered on March 24, 2016 by Justice Mohammed Idris and a certified true copy of it were served on Malami and Idris they had ignored it.
It accused Malami and Idris of taking the court for a ride, saying it had since last week commenced contempt proceedings against them by filing Form 48 at the Federal High Court.
SERAP in the Form 48 threatened that “unless you (Malami and Idris) obey the orders of the court contained on the reverse side of this process you shall be deemed to have disobeyed the orders of the court and shall be liable to committed to prison for contempt.”
“Despite the service of the certified true copy of the judgment on both the Attorney General of the Federation and the Accountant-General of the Federation they have failed and/or neglected to acknowledge the judgment let alone obey it.
“It’s unacceptable to take the court, which is the guardian of justice in this country, for a ride. A democratic state based on the rule of law cannot exist or function, if the government ignores and/or fails to abide by Court orders,” it said.
