Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the
law does not support the confirmation of Adamu Lamatek as the chairman of the
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
In a statement released on Wednesday, Falana explained that
the AMCON act provides that the chairman hold the office for five years.
“Muiz Banire SAN, the current chairman of the board of the
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), was appointed in July 2018,”
he said.
“The said appointment was made pursuant to section 10(3) of
the Act to the effect that “A member of the Board appointed pursuant to this
section-(a) shall hold office for a term of five years.
“Since the appointment has not expired the President has not
removed Dr Banire from office under the relevant provisions of the Asset
Management Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2010.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had nominated Adamu as AMCON’s
new chairman in line with an amendment of the AMCON act that provides for a
part-time chairman who shall be a deputy governor in the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
Explaining further, the lawyer said: “It is submitted that
such provision as contained in Section 3(a) of the 2019 Amendment Act can only
operate in futuro as it cannot nullify or annul an appointment made under the
law before the amendment of the AMCON Act.
“In other words, since the amendment cannot operate
retrospectively the appointment of Mr Adamu cannot take effect until Dr Banire
has served his full term unless he decides to resign before the expiration of
his five-year tenure.
“This submission accords with section 6 (1) (c) of the
Interpretation Act which provides that the repeal of an enactment shall not
“affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability accrued or incurred under
the enactment.”
Giving the example of a 1985 case between Salami Afolabi and
the Oyo state government, Falana quoted now-deceased justice, Chukwudifu Oputa,
to have said: “Prima facie therefore new legislation will deal with future, not
past events. If it were not so, the Act might annul rights already acquired,
while the presumption is against this intention”.
“In the light of the foregoing, the Senate is legally
prohibited from confirming the appointment of Mr Adamu as the Chairman of the
AMCON Board since the five-year tenure of the current occupant of the office
has not expired by effluxion of time.
“However, if the senate proceeds to confirm the appointment
all actions and decisions of the AMCON board under his chairmanship are liable
to be set aside on account of the illegality of his appointment.”
Falana said battling issues of illegal appointments will be
a distraction from AMCON’s assignment of recovery bad debts worth N5.4
trillion.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com