A human rights lawyer, Ayodele Ademiluyi, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel First Lady Oluremi Tinubu to disclose how the N20.4 billion recently raised for the National Library project will be utilised.
Gatekeepers News reports that also joined in the suit are President Bola Tinubu, the attorney-general of the federation, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa, National Librarian Chinwe Veronica, the board of the National Library of Nigeria, the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council, Zenith Bank Plc, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
On September 1, Mrs. Tinubu announced that she would dedicate her 65th birthday, marked on September 21, to mobilising funds for the completion of the National Library headquarters. She appealed to friends and supporters to donate money—rather than send gifts—into a Zenith Bank account operated under the “Oluremi at 65 Education Fund”, which she said is coordinated by the federal ministry of education.
Speaking at a luncheon with State House correspondents on her birthday, the first lady revealed that N20,456,188,924 had already been raised for the project.
The initiative has since sparked mixed reactions. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, criticised the move, saying it was “wrong for a nation like Nigeria to depend on birthday donations to complete a critical national institution.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Ademiluyi confirmed that he had filed suit number FHC/L/CS/1900/25, seeking an order of mandamus compelling Mrs. Tinubu to make public details of how the donations will be managed. He also asked the court to order the EFCC to investigate the account designated for the project.
The lawyer further urged the court to compel President Tinubu to allocate at least 26 percent of the 2026 budget to the federal ministry of education and a substantial portion of that to the National Book Development Centre under the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council.
