USAfricaonline.com gathered that the acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Folashodun Shonubi and his Deputy Governor, Mr. Edward Adamu has been sued before a Federal High Court Abuja for alleged refusal to declare their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by the Network Against Corruption and Trafficking Foundation (NACAT).
The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which was brought by John Ainetor of Festus Keyamo Chambers on behalf of NACAT before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act of 2011’s Sections 1(1) and (2) serve as the foundation for the lawsuit.
The case is dated August 25, 2023 and has the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/1182/2023.
Stanley Ugagbe, the operational manager of NACAT, stated in an affidavit that was filed with the initial motion ex parte that the respondents steadfastly refused to turn over certain documents.
Ugagbe contends that the second and third respondents, who are serving as acting governor and deputy governor, respectively, are constitutionally required to disclose any financial interests they may have in certain corporations.
In his words;
“The applicant has a right under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, to access the Assets and Liabilities Declaration Forms of the second and third respondents in the records of the first respondent, concerning the declaration of the second and third respondents’ interests in the said companies.
“The applicant has made a demand under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 to the respondents for them to produce the Assets and Liabilities Declaration Forms, where the second and third respondents declared their interests in the said companies, but the respondents failed, refused and neglected to produce the said documents.”
According to the applicant, Section 1 (3) of the Freedom of Information Act required court assistance in order to execute the request made to the first and second responders.
The applicant made the requests in light of the fact that it had previously written to the respondents on July 3, 2023, and August 14, 2023, requesting the papers, but they had refused to cooperate.
