The suit instituted against the Attorney General of the Federation AGF on the Monitoring of spending of the $300 million dollars recovered from the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha has been dismissed by the Federal High court, Abuja.
The suit instituted by PPP Advisories Consortium, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre and Issa Shuaib was thrown out by the court on accounts that it had become statute barred when filed.
Justice Ekwo while delivering judgment in the suit held that all public documents tendered by the plaintiffs were worthless because they ran foul of sections 102, 103, 104 and 105 of Evidence Act of 2011, therefore it’s of no probative value.
The federal government had in the year 2020 upon the repatriation of the $300 million to Nigeria from the United Kingdom announced that the money would be used to fund the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, the Abuja – Kano dualisation and the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.
The federal government of Nigeria, the United States Government and the Bailiwick of Jersey then entered into a tripartite agreement for the implementation of the $ 300 million Abacha, on these grounds.
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Flowing from the agreement, the federal government sent out invitation for consultants to submit proposals to the Federal Ministry of Justice, whereupon, the claimant PPP Advisories Consortium was among the 4 prequalified firms among the 17 firms that responded to the request for prequalification.
After the evaluation of the financial proposals of the 4 prequalified consultants, the claimants PPP Advisories Consortium was disqualified on alleged deficiencies in the claims submitted for qualifications.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the claimants – PPP Advisories; Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Issa Shuaibu & Co (PPP Advisories Consortium) – approached the federal high court challenging the legality or otherwise of the Federal Government decision.
Listed as defendants are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF); the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General of the Federation, Dayo Apata, SAN, (sued as Chairman Ministerial Tenders Board) and the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The claimants through their counsel, Daniel Bwala, urged the court to make an order setting aside the decision of the procurement panel adjudging it’s Technical and Financial proposal as non-responsive.
They equally urged the court to make an order directing the defendants to issue a letter declaring them as the winning bidder, and invite them for negotiation, having achieved the highest score and therefore emerged the winner of the bid.
However in his final judgment, Justice Ekwo agreed with the defendants that the suit had become statute barred having been instituted outside the three months stipulated by law.
(Editor: Ebuwa Omo-Osagie)
