Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi’s office is part of a legal team of 23 lawyers, including six Senior Advocates of Nigeria, deployed to defend a suit filed by civil society group Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International against President Bola Tinubu, his son Seyi, the Federal Ministry of Works, Minister David Umahi, and Fagbemi himself.
Also named as defendants in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1700/2024, are Chagoury Group of Companies and Hitech Construction Company. The plaintiff invoked the Freedom of Information Act, seeking documents showing how the contract was awarded to the Chagoury Group and evidence of compliance with the Procurement Act.
In a counter-affidavit filed against the suit, the defendants argued that releasing the information sought by the plaintiff would harm the interest of all Nigerians, citing the procuring entity’s common bill of quantities for the entire project.
The suit is also premised on alleged corruption in the contract award, breach of the Procurement Act, and lack of due process.
In 2024, Tinubu awarded the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project to the Chagoury-owned Hitech, a deal that drew scrutiny over the absence of public bidding and the longstanding relationship between Tinubu and Chagoury. It has since been reported that Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group.
Separately, Seyi Tinubu was a majority shareholder in an offshore company alongside Ronald Chagoury Jr. That firm was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The six SANs retained by the Federal Government in the FHC/ABJ/CS/1700/2024 matter include A.J. Owonikoko, Mahmud Magaji, Prof. J.O. Olatoke, Yakubu Hussaini Ruba, Emmanuel Esene, and Roy O.U. Nwaeze.
The highway is expected to be completed in eight years. With initial cost estimates ranging between $11 billion and $12.5 billion, or roughly N14 trillion to N15.6 trillion in Nigerian naira, commenters have questioned the priority of such a project given current economic conditions.
The Federal Ministry of Works executed the contract in favor of Hitech Construction at the rate of N4.329 billion per kilometer. A motion before the House of Representatives noted that the procurement strategy adopted violated the Infrastructure Concession Act, which requires all approved infrastructure contracts to be advertised for open competitive public bidding in at least three national dailies.
Works Minister Dave Umahi told journalists that the government approved a “restrictive bidding” round for the project, without explaining which other companies were involved or why the process was not made public.
Opposition leader Atiku Abubakar said, “It is curious that the terms of such an audacious project continue to be shrouded in secrecy,” adding, “It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners.”
Transparency International’s Nigeria head, Auwal Rafsanjani, condemned the contract award, describing it as “an inflated contract that has been given simply because some people believe that they will make money out of it.”
The presidency has said, “The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway procurement followed due process, and the president hasn’t any hand in the award or execution.”
The House of Representatives set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the procurement process of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract and directed it to report within four weeks.
The question the 23-lawyer team has not answered in court is simple: if the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract followed due process, why is the federal government spending public resources to stop a court from releasing documents that would show exactly that?
