A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos will on Monday, October 27, deliver judgment in a suit filed against the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) over the agency’s refusal to provide them with the procurement documents with which they procurred two bullet proof BMW cars for former Aviation Minister, Mrs. Stella Oduah.The presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, disclosed that ruling on the matter is reserved till Monday after the final hearing from Miss Mosun Oladapo, the Attorney to MRA and PPDC, and Mr. Emeka Okpoko, who is the counsel to NCAA.
Following an exparte motion they filed before the court on December 6 over the refusal of the NCAA to make the documents available to them, MRA and PPDC obtained leave of the court on March 27, 2014 to apply for a declaration that the failure and/or refusal by the NCAA to disclose or avail them them the information they requested amounts to a violation of their rights of access to information. This, they held, is established and guaranteed by Sections 1(1) and 4(a) of the FOI Act; arguing that the disclosure of the information they requested will not interfere with pending or actual and reasonably contemplated law enforcement proceedings conducted by any law enforcement or correctional agency; and that the public interest in disclosing the requested information outweighs whatever injury the disclosure of the information to the organizations may cause under Section12 (2) of the FOI Act among others.
