The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal proceedings against Nigeria’s state governors and Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike for failing to provide transparency regarding billions of naira allocated as security votes since May 29, 2023.
The organization filed suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/95/2026 at the Federal High Court in Abuja last Friday, seeking court orders compelling the officials to disclose comprehensive details of security vote expenditures meant to protect Nigerian lives and property.
The lawsuit comes amid ongoing security challenges across multiple states and the FCT, including the recent Benue massacre, despite annual security budgets exceeding N400 billion. Reports indicate that ten governors alone budgeted approximately N140 billion for security votes in 2026.
Through the suit filed by lawyers Oluwakemi Agunbiade, Andrew Nwankwo, and Valentina Adegoke, SERAP requests that the court direct governors and Minister Wike to provide detailed allocation reports, implementation updates, completion records, and improvement plans for security infrastructure in their respective jurisdictions.
SERAP contends that the Nigerian Constitution never envisioned opaque management of public security funds and that escalating insecurity continues devastating socially and economically vulnerable populations while deepening poverty and hunger. The organization argues that officials are failing their constitutional obligation under section 14(2)(b) to guarantee citizen welfare and security.
According to SERAP’s filing, decades of secrecy surrounding security vote spending have facilitated widespread corruption and prevented meaningful public accountability. The organization references a Supreme Court ruling confirming that the Freedom of Information Act applies to all public records nationwide, including state-level security expenditures, thereby invalidating governors’ previous claims of exemption.
The suit emphasizes that while operational security details may warrant confidentiality, there exists no constitutional justification for concealing basic public expenditure information from citizens. SERAP maintains that treating security votes as personal entitlements contradicts both constitutional principles and international anticorruption standards.
SERAP highlights Nigeria’s recent World Bank classification as an economy in fragile and conflict-affected situations, alongside 38 other countries including Afghanistan, Mali, and Sudan. The Bank attributes this designation partly to insecurity contributing to extreme poverty, acute food insecurity, and deteriorating human development indicators across the country.
The organization asserts that public interest in disclosure significantly outweighs any rationale for withholding this information, noting that transparency would enable constructive dialogue about security challenges and governmental responses.
The court has not yet scheduled a hearing date for the case.
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