SERAP asks court to compel CBN to account for $6.23m and N1.63tn

SERAP has sued the Central Bank of Nigeria, asking a court to compel it to account for $6.23 million in allegedly diverted or unaccounted-for election funds and more than N1.63 trillion in other public funds.

The organisation said suit FHC/ABJ/CS/2450/2026 was filed on Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja. It wants details of the transactions, their beneficiaries, repayment status and steps taken to recover the money.

SERAP disclosed the filing in a statement issued on Sunday by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare. The case draws on findings it cited from Volume II of the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2023 Annual Report, published on August 7, 2026.

According to SERAP, the sums include more than N1.25 trillion in unrecovered intervention loans to state governments, N116.18 billion in loans to distressed and liquidated banks, and N262.86 billion disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. These are allegations raised in the organisation’s case, not findings of the court.

The $6.23 million payment was linked, in SERAP’s account of the audit findings, to an allegedly fraudulent election-funding request purportedly made by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The organisation said the bank had not made its investigation report available to the audit team for scrutiny.

SERAP is asking the court to order disclosure of that investigation’s findings, identify the officials and others who approved or disbursed the funds, and require the CBN to state any disciplinary or administrative action taken.

The organisation also wants records concerning seven boxes of currency notes awaiting examination, unserviceable vehicles at the bank’s Lagos branch and a bullion van at its Abeokuta branch.

The filing follows SERAP’s earlier seven-day demand for an account of the same funds, reported here. That demand was contained in a letter dated September 26, 2026.

No hearing date has been fixed for the suit.

Sources: Punch, Vanguard