Stella Oduah's bullet proof cars Palava: court orders First bank to disclose details of Loan agreement.

Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court, Lagos on Tuesday ordered First Bank of Nigeria Plc, to disclose details of a loan facility, it granted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over the alleged purchase of some bulletproof cars by former minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

The court also granted an order of mandamus compelling First Bank to grant admittance to or make available to Enough Is Enough (EIE) Nigeria, the information it requested, in a letter dated Oct. 30, 2013.

The judge released the order while delivering judgment in a case instituted by EIE Nigeria against the
depository financial institution over its refusal to reveal the data to the system. EIE Nigeria had written an application under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act on Oct. 30, 2013, requesting the disclosure of such data. The lawsuit was lodged on behalf of EIE on Jan. 9, 2014 by Mr. Ayodeji Acquah of Media Rights Agenda’s Network of Freedom of Information lawyers. In that suit, EIE is seeking the court for the declaration that the failure and/or refusal of the First Bank to grant access to or make available to EIE the information it requested in its letter amounts to wrongful denial of access to information under Section 7(5) of the FOI Act.

 It is also seeking for a declaration that the failure and/or refusal by the First Bank to give EIE a written notice that access to all or part of the information requested would not be granted and stating reasons for the denial and the section of the FOI Act upon which the bank relied upon in denying EIE access such information, amounts to a flagrant violation ofSection 4(b), 7(1), (2), and (3) of the FOI Act and is therefore wrongful. 

However, EIE had obtained a similar edict in March 2015, where Cos-charis Motors Ltd., was led to revealing details of the dealings.