THE presidential ambition of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, may be a wishful thinking as a coalition of six civil society groups has launched legal fireworks against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), ostensibly to produce the missing Okigbo Panel report, which allegedly indicted the former military ruler.

IBB has several times been linked with alleged diversion and mismanagement of $12.4 billion that accrued to the nation during the Gulf War oil windfall between 1988 and 1994.

The groups are Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP); Women Advocates and Documentation Centre (WARDC); Committee on Defence of Human Rights (CDHR); Access to Justice (AJ); Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA); and Partnership for Justice (PJ).

They have consequently dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking information on the spending of the money.

The rights groups had demanded the recovery of the said sum and the prosecution of those fingered in the deal and the Federal Government had responded that the Dr Pius Okigbo Panel report had got missing, following which the report was published by a national magazine in May 2005.

In a letter dated April 7, 2010, the groups demanded the prosecution of Babangida, prompting a request for the signed copy of the report by Mr Adoke, which they did.

As a result, the AGF set up a panel of inquiry to verify the authenticity of the report. He later claimed in an interview that the report was missing again and that he could verify the truth of it.

Undaunted, the groups, in another letter dated August 22, 2010, asked the CBN governor for a copy of the said report.

The suit, with number FHC/ABJ/CS/640/10, dated September 8, 2010 and brought under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, was filed by their lawyer, Mr Femi Falana. No date had been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

The groups said “in 1994, the Federal Government set up the Okigbo Panel to investigate the activities of the CBN and recommend measures for the re-organisation of the bank.

In the course of its assignment, the panel found that the $12.5 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts had been depleted to $200 million by June 1994. As a result of the mismanagement of the said sum of $12.2 billion by the military president, General Babangida, the panel recommended that the accounts be discontinued.

“The need for information regarding the spending of $12.4 billion oil windfall is important to promote

transparency and accountability in the management of public resources and to fulfill Nigeria’s international obligations to promote the development of the country. Access to information of this nature is especially important in this country, which is struggling to establish the rule of law and democracy in the face of underdevelopment, poverty, illiteracy and disease. The right of access to information is also crucial to the realisation of all other human rights, including the peoples’ rights to their natural wealth and resources.

“Public bodies hold information, not for themselves, but as custodians of the public good and everyone has a right to access this information. Unless the court compels Mr Adoke and the CBN to disclose the information requested in this case, the information may never be disclosed and Nigeria will remain in breach of its international anti-corruption and human rights obligations and commitments,” the groups further argued.

The groups also said “the diversion and/or mismanagement of the $12.4 billion oil windfall is a violation of Nigerians’ rights to natural resources and wealth and to economic development, as recognised and guaranteed by 21 and 22 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act). Under the African Charter, the Nigerian government has a legal responsibility to utilise the natural resources of the country so as to benefit the whole people. Just as the people of every sovereign state have a permanent right to choose their own form of government so the people are entitled to insist that the natural resources of the nation be exploited in the interest of the people.”

Meanwhile, for the first time since the countdown to the 2011 presidential election began, the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Kwara State governor, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Sunday, in Minna, Niger State, held a closed door meeting with former military president and presidential aspirant on the ticket of the PDP, General Babangida.

Saraki also met with the Niger State governor and chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu.

The Kwara State governor, accompanied by three of his personal aides, arrived in Minna on a chartered flight at about 11.00 a.m and drove straight from the airport in the Niger State governor’s Toyota Jeep staff car to the Hilltop residence of Babangida, where the meeting was held for over one hour.

Political observers believed that the meeting was not unconnected with the presidential ambition of Babangida, as Dr Saraki is believed to be one of the governors in the country throwing his weight behind his presidential aspiration.

An unconfirmed source said Dr Saraki’s visit was to perfect the presidential declaration of General Babangida at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The Kwara State governor, however, refused to speak to the press after the meeting, maintaining the “no comment posture” when asked about the visit.

When contacted on the outcome of the meeting, IBB said it was in line with the spirit of the celebration of Eid-el-fitr.

After the meeting at the IBB residence, Saraki drove to the residence of Dr Aliyu, where another round of closed door meeting, which lasted for about 30 minutes, was held.

Governor Saraki returned to Ilorin immediately after the visits.

Interpretation of the holy vision;

Babangida cannot account for the money he judiciously used while in office and that is costing him his 2011 presidential ambition. He is planning to use/front Saraki (a Yoruba northerner) as the northern candidate,
promising to back him with all his weight but not to ruin his image.

Accountability is what IBB lacks and that is enough automatic automated disqualification pointer.

I am of tired of seeing this mans name.