In response to the reorganisation of the NDDC board, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, a rights activist, sued President Muhammadu Buhari, Attorney General Abubakar Malami SAN, and Senate President Ahmad Lawal. However, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the petition.
The Clerk of the National Assembly and Godswill Akpabio, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, are additional defendants in the action.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the President of the Senate delay appointing a new board of directors for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) until the findings of the agency's forensic audit are made public. The lawsuit was filed in August 2021.
But on Thursday, the judge decided that Chief Lori-Ogbebor lacked locus standi—the prerequisite for bringing a lawsuit—to do so.
Chief Lori-Ogbebor informed Judiciary Correspondents shortly after the verdict that she would be appealing it.
If the court told the plaintiff she couldn't defend the Itshekiri people, the plaintiff argued she would be marginalised.
The plaintiff requests that the court stop the defendants from appointing a new board in addition to requesting disclosure of the forensic audit report.
President Buhari should hold off until the requested forensic audit is finished, according to Chief Ogbebor. Before forming or reconstituting the NDDC board or appointing anyone to the board, he receives the report from Akpabio.
“An order of this court restraining the President from acting on any advice concerning constituting the NDDC board without receiving a copy of the audited forensic report and immediately issuing a White Paper on same.
“An order restraining the Senate President from receiving a nomination from President Buhari with a view to screening and confirming the appointment of any person or persons as board members of the NDDC pending the completion and presentation of the audit (report) ordered by him (Buhari).
“An order restraining Akpabio, by himself or anybody, whosoever acts through him, from interfering with the conduct of the forensic audit in a manner inconsistent with the order of the President.”
The plaintiff also wants the court to rule on whether President Buhari has the authority to issue a directive ordering a forensic audit of the NDDC’s activities from 2001 to 2019 under the NDDC Act of 2017 and whether the President is required to receive the report of the forensic audit and act on same before taking any further steps in constituting or recreating the board for the NDDC.