A palpably disillusioned Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High High Court sitting in Lagos, has recounted how the Federal Government through its lawyers, practically abandoned midway, a suit seeking to recover and forfeit the sum of N70trillion public money it alleged was stashed in 29 bank accounts by looters.
The judge narrated how the pursuit for the recovery of the money, warehoused in banks by looters in the Nigerian civil service and said to be so huge that it could fund Nigeria’s budget for three years, and the looters, was hit by the lukewarm attitudes of the lawyers that filed it.
Lifu, who made the revelation before striking out the case, blamed the private lawyers hired by the FG to prosecute the matter, saying after obtaining the fiat, for that purpose they failed to diligently prosecute the case for several months, by springing one excuse or the other.
He particularly named the Mohammed Ndarani (SAN), to Femi Falana (SAN), the Plaintiffs/Applicants’ Counsel, as the culprits, saying they “suddenly developed cold feet over this alleged public interest case.”
The case which had the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation/ Minister of Justice are the Plaintiffs/Applicants in suit FHC/L/CS/968/2021 involved 19 Defendants/Respondents, including 17 banks, named as Zenith Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Plc, Citi Bank Ltd, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc.
Other defendants were named as Keystone Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, United Bank For Africa Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Eco Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The government filed the suit through an ex-parte motion of August 5, 2021 before Justice Tijani Ringim during the court’s annual vacation.
Justice Tijani Garba Ringim, who originally handled the matter as a vacation judged, and upheld the applicants’ motion while also making an interim order freezing the accounts on August 6, 2021, had handed it over to Lifu on September 22, 2021.
Lifu, who began hearing the matter on November 24, 2021, and on May 27, 2022, while vacating Ringim’s ex-parte order following the Plaintiffs/Applicants’ failure to comply with the it after over nine months, while delivering judgment on the substantive suit, criticised the Federal Government for not diligently prosecuting the suit.
Regretting that since the vacation of the interim order: “It has been back and forth, with various excuses, applications for adjournment at the instance of the Plaintiffs/Applicants counsel, Mohammed Ndarani Esq. (SAN).
“From all indications, the instant case has clearly lost its stance as the Plaintiffs/Applicants seem not to be interested in the matter any longer having failed consistently to be present in court since 9th December 2021.
“The Chambers of Femi Falana SAN that just filed Notice of Change of Counsel on the last adjourned date has suddenly withdrawn appearance today. Going through the Originating Process filed by Mohammed Ndarani Esq. SAN, which is no longer extant as the Ex-parte Order was set aside on 27th May 2022, there is nothing left again for this Court to adjudicate upon.
“It is amazing that the Plaintiffs/Applicants Counsel from Ndarani SAN to Falana SAN have suddenly developed cold feet over this alleged public interest case which has generated so much public interest on the issue of an alleged N70trillion hidden in some accounts, allegedly belonging to some public officers.
“In the circumstances of this case therefore the application of the Learned Counsel for NNPC, M. T. Danzaki Esq.,and Access Bank Plc, I. S. Etefia Esq., succeeds. This case is hereby struck out for want of diligent prosecution and I make no order as to cost.”