Former EFCC prosecutor sues Akwa Ibom Governor over 13% derivation refunds

A former prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nkereuwen Mark Anana, has dragged the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, before the Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking to know how the 13 per cent oil derivation refunds aid received from the Federal Government was utilised.

Apart from the governor, the state’s Accountant General and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) are also listed as the first to third defendants.

Anana, a citizen of Akwa Ibom State, in his 35-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, stated that sometime in November 2022, at the venue of the inauguration of the Nigerian Law School Rivers State, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, informed the public that the source of the money he used in carrying out developmental projects in his state, including the Nigerian Law School recently built by his government, was mainly from the 13 per cent oil derivation monies which accrued to Rivers State of Nigeria as an oil-producing state.

He also said the 13 per cent oil derivation monies that were not paid to the Niger Delta states since 1999 were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and paid in his tenure.

Wike had also said the money he used in developing the state was not from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) but money paid to Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, and Bayelsa states.

Anana noted that since 2019 to date, the Rivers governor had commissioned about nine flyovers with more waiting to be commissioned.

The lawyer also said Wike stated that with part of the money, he built a cancer centre through Julius Berger company at the cost of N25.9 billion, which he named after Dr Peter Odili.

Anana stated that Akwa Ibom State is located in the southern part of Nigeria and is one of the Niger Delta states, being an oil-producing state. He added that the Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, had never prior to Wike’s revelation disclosed that Akwa Ibom State received such money from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He further averred that he knows as a fact that the Akwa Ibom governor hid this fact from the people of the state until Wike exposed it.

The plaintiff also stated that for a fact he knew that Emmanuel had not made any publication or speech in denial of receiving the 13 per cent oil derivation refund after the disclosure by Wike.

Anana, therefore, said he instituted the suit to compel the first to third defendants to release information on the amount paid to the Akwa Ibom State Government as her 13 per cent oil derivation monies and other monies realized, coming into the treasury of Akwa Ibom State Government under the leadership of Emmanuel.

He further stated that several projects had been abandoned by the Udom Emmanuel administration in Akwa Ibom State, including the Ibom Airport Road expansion projects, Ibom Science/Industrial Park, and several sections of drainage in Uyo, the state capital.

Also abandoned, Anana argued, were the International Worship Center, the Peacock Paint Factory, which the governor claimed to have revived, the Coconut Refinery, the Itu Automobile Assembly Plant/factory, etc. He also mentioned that the General Hospital in Ukanafun Local Government Area (LGA), otherwise known as Cottage Hospital, built and left uncompleted by the previous government of Akwa Ibom State, had also been abandoned by Emmanuel.

Giving further examples, the lawyer said 99 per cent of the roads in Ukanafun, Oruk Anam, Ibiono Ibom, and other LGAs of the state had not been tarred, making life difficult for transporters and other road users during the rainy season, while old women and men suffer from accessing markets during the core rainy season because of poor road infrastructure in the state.

The plaintiff further averred that there is so much poverty in Akwa Ibom State as even gratuities of retired public and civil servants remain unpaid. He noted that it was in the middle of this that governor sought nomination from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest the presidential election.

To know what the state utilised funds on, Anana stated that he had sent a letter dated November 30, 2022, through DHL to the Akwa Ibom governor, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2011, requesting information on the income and expenditure of the Akwa Ibom State Government under the leadership of Emmanuel.

He also stated that he sent a letter dated November 30, 2022, through DHL to the state’s Accountant General, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2011, requesting information on the income and expenditure of the Akwa Ibom State Government under the leadership of Emmanuel.

He added that a letter dated January 11, 2023, was also sent through DHL to the AGF pursuant to the Freedom of information Act 2011, requesting information on the federal monthly allocation to the Akwa Ibom State Government and 13 per cent derivation fund paid to the Akwa Ibom State Government under the leadership of Emmanuel.

Anana stated that it was only the AGF who replied to his letter but did not provide the information sought.

The applicant said both the Akwa Ibom State Governor and his Accountant General had wrongfully denied him the information sought.

He stated that the refusal of the defendants to release the required information was unlawful, criminal and detrimental to the political. economic and social growth of Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria as a whole. He added that the defendant’s refusal to release said information showed a lack of transparency and accountability and indicated a high-level corruption in their respective public offices.

He stated that there was a connivance between the defendants not to release the needed information contrary to the Freedom of Information Act and there was therefore an urgent need to compel them to release the required information to him, as the three defendants are not greater than the laws of this country.