Nigeria Content Online

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.