Ibrahim Babangida

A Federal High Court in Lagos, South-West Nigeria has fixed June 17 to give its ruling on commencement of trial, in a suit filed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (S.A.N), Chief Gani Fawehinmi to make the government render accounts on how the proceeds of the gulf oil windfall was spent.

The fiery constitutional lawyer, chief Fawehinmi who is currently recovering from an ailment in a London Hospital, had filed the suit in 1992 against the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida (retired), seeking to know how the $12.4 billion oil windfall which accrued to Nigeria during the 1991 Gulf war was spent.

Other defendants in the suit are former Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Professor Jubril Aminu, former governor of the CBN, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed, the Auditor General for the Federation and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

Counsel to Chief Fawehinmi, Mr. Ugwuzor Adindu to the court today that the decision on whether the plaintiff had the “locus standi” to institute the current action had been settled by the apex court on the judgement of the dollar salaries paid to certain Ministers who served under the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. 

Mr. Adindu dismissed the defendant’s objections that they lacked any cause of action and insisted that there was no abuse of court process as the defendants were deliberately stalling the trial.

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The Pius Okigbo panel was set up amongst other things to investigate how the oil windfall was spent by the IBB’s Government.The panel, inaugurated in late 1994 by The late General Sanni Abacha, revealed how Babangida, in connivance with the top officials of the CBN, allegedly misappropriated the $12.4 billion extra revenue that came to the purse of the Federal Government as a result of the increases in the prices of oil on the international spot market occasioned by the Gulf war.

According to a summary of the report released by the Federal Government, the Okigbo panel said Babangida squandered the $12.4 billion oil windfall on clearly unproductive ventures. Besides Babangida, the report also indicted the former military president's security chiefs and the former Governor of the CBN, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed. The report also frowned at the manner and method of disbursing the oil windfall through a "Dedicated Accounts."

According to the summary, the dedicated accounts, which consisted of NNPC sales of mining rights, signature bonds and stabilisation, received a total of $12.4 billion, out of which $12.2 billion was disbursed leaving a balance of $206.037 million.

The accounts were operated between 1988 and June 30, 1994. Okigbo, while identifying the lapses inherent in leaving Babangida and Ahmed to directly disburse the funds, said the operation of the accounts opened the floodgate for the diversion of public funds.