The Court of Appeal in Abuja imposed a fine of 400,000 on the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) for requesting the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to disclose the asset declaration forms of former presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari, and their vice presidents.
Justice Okong Abang of the appeal court dismissed the case, stating that it lacked merit and was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.
The group’s lawyer, Godwin N. Chigbu, argued that Nigerians have the right to access information about public officers’ assets under the FOI Act.
He asked the appellate court to overturn the Federal High Court’s decision and compel the CCB to make the former presidents’ assets public, citing Paragraph 11, Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, which says:
“(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.”
Justice Abang, in his lead judgment on Friday, stated that when the lawsuit was filed in the trial court, the National Assembly had not created any written guidelines for the public on how to request access to asset declaration forms or information held by the CCB.
He agreed with the trial court’s decision that the lawsuit was premature, suggesting that the group should have first brought their concerns to the National Assembly to establish a law outlining the process for accessing asset declaration forms from public officials.
Abang noted that the appellant failed to demonstrate how the FOI Act specified the procedure for obtaining requested information 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.”
On July 28, 2011, AFRICMIL submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the CCB. They asked for copies of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s asset declaration from 2007, after his tenure ended on May 28, 2011, and when he assumed office on May 29, 2011.
The team lead of the group, Ashimole Felix, later claimed that the CCB was not responding to their request. As a result, they filed a lawsuit (FHC/ABJ/CS/877/2011) on October 21, 2011, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The group wanted the court to force the CCB to release former President Goodluck Jonathan’s asset declaration to the public. However, the lower court dismissed the case for lacking merit, leading to an appeal.
