SERAP files petition against Tinubu over refusal to investigate missing $2.1bn, N3.1trn oil funds
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project , SERAP, has filed a petition against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his failure to follow the body’s request to probe the missing 2.1 billion US dollars and 3.1 trillion naira oil subsidy and revenue payments between 2016 and 2019 respectively.
Kolawole Oluwadare, the body’s deputy director disclosed this on Sunday June 11, 2023.
According to him, the petition followed the disgusting announcement made by the current Auditor General for the federation, Adolphus Aghughu, in the 2016 and 2019 annual reports that the funds are missing, and Mr President’s default to look into the matter.
The statement reads, “In the suit number FHC/L/CS/1107/23 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the group also seeks an order of mandamus to compel President Tinubu to direct the anti-corruption agencies to promptly probe fuel subsidy payments made by governments since the return of democracy in 1999, name and shame and prosecute suspected perpetrators, and to recover any proceeds of crimes.”
It added, “The allegations that US$2.1 billion and N3.1 trillion of public funds are missing and unaccounted amount to a fundamental breach of national anticorruption laws and the country’s international obligations including under the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.”
The group obliged Mr President to get to root of the matter and recover all proceeds of crime back to the government, stated that he (Tinubu) holds the authority to bring justice to the Nigerian people on their embezzled wealth.
It also mentioned that its action of legal suit is to allow the poor and less privileged citizens in benefiting from the subsidy removal.
“The Tinubu government has constitutional and international legal obligations to get to the bottom of these allegations and ensure accountability for these serious crimes against the Nigerian people.”
“Allegations of corruption in fuel subsidy payments suggest that the poor have rarely benefited from the use and management of the payments,” SERAP stated.
