The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) as well as 15 other concerned Nigerians have initiated legal action against the administration now being led by President Mohammadu Buhari over “the failure to probe the operations of illegal oil pipelines between 2001 and 2022, to name and prosecute those suspected to be involved, and to recover proceeds of crime.”
The Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice in Abuja received suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/53/22 on Friday.
The complaint was submitted by Eric Dooh, the defendant (who is suing for himself as a leader of the Goi Community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, and on behalf of the Goi Community).
Following recent allegations of the discovery of at least 58 illegal oil pipelines used to siphon off the nation’s oil wealth, the lawsuit was brought on their behalf by SERAP attorney Kolawole Oluwadare.
The plaintiffs requested that the court order the government to recoup any proceeds of crime as well as to respect, safeguard, and uphold the human rights of the Niger Delta’s residents who have endured oil theft by non-state actors.
The plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuit that “The Buhari government is failing to respect its international legal commitments to ensure that the country’s oil riches is used purely for Nigerians’ benefit and that the revenue does not end up in private wallets.
Additionally, the plaintiffs claim that “vulnerable and poor Nigerians have continued to pay the price for the theft of the nation’s oil wealth, which appears to have been committed by both state and non-state actors.”
According to them, “Successive governments have generally wasted the potential to use the income to better the lives and well-being of ordinary Nigerians, despite the country’s significant oil resources.”
Additionally, according to the plaintiffs, “the unlawful pipes have been operating for many years without notice, implying a flagrant violation of international human rights responsibilities to ensure the proper, effective, and efficient administration of the country’s riches and natural resources.”
The plaintiffs said that “the robbery of the country’s oil wealth has resulted in the decreasing trend in revenue and increasing level of borrowing, with reports of a projected N11.30 trillion deficit budget for 2023” in the lawsuit that their attorney, Kolawole Oluwadare, filed on their behalf.