Group urges court to compel govt to disclose contract documents, financial details

ASOCIO- POLITICAL group, under the auspices of the "Ekiti Patriotic Consultative Forum," has urged the court to compel the Ekiti State Government to make available all documents, including financial records and loans, relating to the Ekiti International Cargo Airport project.

It would be recalled that on October 15, 2022, a day after the end of the last administration, which initiated the project, commissioned the airport, though the facility has not commenced operation due to the absence of navigational and some other equipment.

During commissioning, a military aircraft, marked ATR- 42, belonging to the Nigerian Air Force ( NAF), touched down at the airport on the day.

The state government awarded the contract for the cargo airport to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Limited ( CCECCL).

However, the lead counsel to the group, Oluwagbenga

Babawibe, who is also the Secretary to the forum, disclosed this in a statement, including court processes, made available to newsmen in Ado- Ekiti, yesterday.

Babawibe said the motion ex- parte for the request was filed before the State High Court on March 28, 2024, in a suit between the group and the government.

The counsel, who said the request was made for the documents relying on the provisions of the Ekiti State Freedom of Information Law, 2011, added that his law firm, Urban Attorneys & Solicitors, acting for the forum, had since November 22, 2023, made the written request to the government, through the offices of Secretary to the State Government, Commissioner for Justice and AttorneyGeneral, as well the state’s Accountant- General, and that the receipt of the letter was acknowledged on December 11, 2023 by the accountant- general's office, but without any response.