THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has said that it would continue to challenge the Buhari-led regime to ensure transparency and accountability in governance and public funds management.
This is as it called the criticisms from the Presidency last December as “an attempt at mischief.”
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, revealed that the advocacy group has filed more than 40 public-interest lawsuits against the Federal Government, the National Assembly and state governments, out of which 21 was filed in 2021.
Added to that list is a recent suit (ECW/CCJ/APP/05/22) filed at the ECOWAS Court of Justice against the regime over “secrecy in the spending of loans so far obtained, the unsustainable level of borrowing by the government and the 36 states, debt crisis, and the disproportionately negative impact of these retrogressive measures on poor Nigerians.”
However, SERAP’s rounds of legal ammunition fired at the office of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), did not go down well with the Presidency.
According to a berating piece released on December 1, 2021, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, knocked SERAP over what he called “divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts.”
Shehu’s piece titled, ‘SERAP should stop the publicity stunt and render its own accountability’ came barely one week after the legal advocacy group took another shot at the Presidency by asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to “direct and compel President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps to ensure the arrest of soldiers and police officers indicted by the just-published Lagos #EndSARS panel’s report for the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate, and police brutality cases.”
In its clap back, the Presidency accused SERAP of “sowing division amongst the Nigerian people” and not following through with its lawsuits.
It said, “To date, SERAP has announced on repeated occasions–each time via a well-funded media campaign–that it is suing the government or the President over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to alleged corruption. To date, SERAP has not taken their retinue of legal actions to a logical conclusion. They don’t follow through.’’
“Yet these headline-grabbing publicity stunts, however, baseless, succeed in painting an inaccurate picture of life and governance in Nigeria and–more seriously–in sowing division amongst the Nigerian people during a time of heightened global economic volatility and hardship.
The Presidency, therefore, called on SERAP to cease its “publicity stunts” and instead “challenge the government publicly, legally and transparently. And while they do so, let them reveal in full view of the nation who they are, and who is funding them.”
But speaking to our correspondent, Oluwadare, said, “I will call it their best attempt at mischief. That’s what it is. SERAP has filed a lot of cases not only against this administration but also previous administrations. And we’ve had judgments, but none of those judgments has been implemented. And we continue to pursue the cases. So, how can the Presidency fault us? Would you rather we commit acts of illegality to prove our points? We can’t. We are a legal advocacy organisation. We write letters to the government, and then we end up in court.
“I doubt if there is any suit that we’ve had undefended. We’ve had cases filed against the National Assembly, National Broadcasting Commission and several other agencies, including the CBN. Some are still pending. So, I wonder what the Presidency meant when it said we should focus on pursuing those cases in a Nigerian court.”
He explained that in pursuit of SERAP’s legal advocacy to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public funds, “we have filed more than 40 public interest lawsuits against the federal government, the National Assembly and state governments, out of which 21 was filed this year-majorly calling on the government to be accountable to the people, by living up to government’s statutory responsibilities.
“For instance, SERAP filed a suit to compel President Buhari to order an investigation of allegations that ₦106bn of public funds are missing, mismanaged, diverted or stolen as documented in the 2018 Audit Report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
“SERAP also filed a lawsuit against President Buhari over his failure to probe allegations that over ₦880bn of public funds are missing from 367 MDAs, to ensure the prosecution of those suspected to be responsible and the recovery of any missing or diverted public funds. That is suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1281/2021, pending before Justice Ekwo [Court 6] of the Federal High Court, Abuja.”
Oluwadare added that SERAP would file more lawsuits against the Buhari-led regime as long as it observes misconducts, constitutional anomalies and failure to keep promises.
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