The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday has imposed ₦400,000 fine on the incorporated Trustees of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) over their application which asked the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to disclose the asset declaration forms of former presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and their vice.
The appeal court Justice Okong Abang equally dismissed the case of the group for lacking in merit and for being inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.
The group’s lawyer, Godwin N. Chigbu, in appeal no: CA/A/247/2018, told the appellate court that Nigerians have the right to enquire about the assets of public officers through the FOI Act.
He urged the appellate to set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court which turned down its application and compel the CCB to make the assets of the former president public in line with Paragraph 11, Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution which provides that:
- “(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after the coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office and thereafter — (a) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of all his properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of eighteen years.”
Appeal Court Judgment
Reading the lead judgment on Friday, Justice Abang held that at the time the suit was filed at the trial court, the National Assembly did not make any written instrument prescribing the terms and conditions that would guide any members of the public to either apply for the inspection of the assets form or disclosure of information in those forms in the custody of the CCB.
He agreed with the trial court that the suit filed by the group was immature, adding that it ought to have first complained to the National Assembly to pass a law on how members can access the asset declaration forms of public officers.
Abang said the appellant did not point out where the FOI Act outlined how an applicant can go about getting what he or she requested from the CCB.
Abang said,
- “I think the appellant was in a haste in applying to the court for it to compel the respondent to disclose the information in the assets declaration form of the former president Goodluck Jonathan, his vice, Nmandi Sambo, and former President Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osibanjo.
- “The appellant ought to have gone to court first to compel the National Assembly to prescribe the terms and conditions for members of the public to comply with before approaching the first respondent to disclose personal information relating to the declaration of assets by former officeholders.
- “The FOI cannot bring different and set rights outside the ones in the provisions of our constitution as contained in section 3(C) part 1.
- “The 1999 constitution as amended will nullify any provision of the FOI act that is inconsistent with the constitution.
- “It is not correct as stated by the appellant counsel that the trial court did not properly evaluate the affidavit evidence in support of the appellant’s application.
- “The appeals lack merit, and it is accordingly dismissed with N200,000 cost in favour of the first and second respondents payable by the appellant.”
Back story
On July 28, 2011, AFRICMIL sent what it called a Freedom of Information(FOI) request to the CCB asking for copies of the 2007 asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; the asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after the end of his tenure on May 28, 2011; and the asset declaration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when he assumed office on May 29, 2011.
The group’s team lead, Ashimole Felix later alleged the CCB was not yielding to its request and subsequently filed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/877/2011 on October 21, 2011, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The group requested the trial court to compel the CCB to comply with its request to make available to the public the asset declaration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
But the court below threw out the case for lacking in merit, paving the way for an appeal.
