Activists want Babangida prosecuted over oil windfall

A network of civil society groups has urged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke to prosecute a former military president, Ibrahim Babaginda over alleged mismanagement of funds.

The coalition, in a letter addressed to the justice ministry in Abuja, requested that Mr Babaginda be brought to book over mismanagement of funds running into about $12.4 billion earned from the sale of crude oil during the Gulf War in 1991 The group asked the Minister to, “urgently and fully implement the recommendations of the late Pius Okigbo Panel report which indicted the former military leader of corruption and mismanagement of the oil windfall.

The panel was set up in 1994 by the late Sani Abacha, another former head of state, to probe how the $12.4 billion oil windfall earned by Nigeria during the first Gulf War was spent.

The groups said they were concerned about the failure of successive governments to act on the report and the non-adaptation of a White Paper since the report was submitted to the ruling government in 1994, with the last administration of Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly claiming that the report could not be found.

The group, which claims to be in possession of the report, alleged that “the Babangida administration operated ‘a second but undisclosed budget’ with the then Central Bank of Nigeria governor, the Abdulkadir Ahmed...and the operations of these accounts were fraught with irregularities as the proceeds of the sale of the crude were not shown in the revenue side nor were the expenditures reflected in the expenditure side of the budget.” Claiming that corruption is well entrenched in the country, the group said “fighting it requires being ready and able to confront powerful interest groups that clearly benefit from the status quo.” It therefore urged the government not to let the allegations against Mr Babaginda go unverified.

14 days ultimatum

The activists said if nothing was done until the expiration of a two weeks ultimatum, they will “take all appropriate legal actions nationally and internationally to compel you to comply with Nigeria’s voluntary international anti-corruption commitments.” The letter was signed by heads of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP); Access to Justice (AJ); Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Nigeria Liberty Forum, London. Others are Women Advocates and Documentation Centre (WARDC); Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA); Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR); Partnership for Justice; Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTAS) and Centre for the Rule of Law On-line campaign.

The group also said it will “mobilise Nigerians through online campaign tools such as Facebook, You Tube, MySpace, and other platforms to ensure that sufficient pressure is mounted on the government to implement the long-standing recommendations of the Okigbo report.” It also threatened an online campaign on the social networking media, Twitter against the much rumoured candidacy of Mr Babaginda ahead of the next general elections.