Justice Cecilia Olatoregun of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has called on the Management of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, to partner with sister agencies of the government to stop its debtors from contesting elections in the country and gaining access to political power.
Olatoregun who made the call at the weekend as Chairperson of a seminar for External Solicitors and Asset Management Partners (AMPs) of AMCON, said the newly signed AMCON (Amendment) Act 2019, had strengthened the Corporation to do so.
The one day seminar was organised by the firm of Legal Academy.
According to Olatoregun “now is the right time for AMCON to come up with a comprehensive database of its obligors and make such information available to bodies such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC); Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Department of State Security (DSS); Nigerian Police among other sister agencies of the government so that AMCON obligors can be stopped from contesting elections or aspiring to leadership positions in the country ab-initio.”
The jurist held that with such a strategy, lawyers could boldly approach the court and get orders stopping such obligor candidates from seeking votes during elections, thereby helping the country’s economy.
She said that lawyers needed to understand that the over N5trillion owed AMCON belonged to all Nigerians including them and that recovering the debt would positively impact on the nation’s economy.
She said: “It is sad that the Nigerian society has continued to allow AMCON debtors and people who cannot honour a simple obligation to contest elections and in most occasions win and eventually occupy exalted offices in the country.
“It is in our constitution that people of questionable characters and criminals should not contest elections but we are yet to see confident lawyers that can come out and challenge this people beyond reasonable doubt that they are not eligible to stand for elections as a result of their heavy indebtedness.”
Welcoming guests to the seminar, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru, decried the quantum of debt owed the corporation saying it would be a huge burden to the Federal Government if the Corporation failed to recover it.
Kuru, who was elated with the signing of the AMCON Amendment Act 2019, said it had provided additional powers to an already strong Act of AMCON.
“It was a challenging process, but we owe a debt of gratitude to the National Assembly and indeed President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR for their courage and for putting the issue to rest and making the AMCON (Amendment No. 2) Act, 2019 a thing of the past,” he said.
The AMCON boss who further noted that it was not unusual to periodically amend the law governing activities of organizations such as AMCON, “to deal with obligors that constantly try to avoid, circumvent and totally deny commitments and obligations,” however, said the amendment would only be effective to the extent that solicitors of AMCON understood the Act and thereafter utilized the far-reaching powers vested in the Corporation.
“In our experience, even prior to the amendment, not all the provisions of the Act were effectively utilized. From our interaction with the judiciary, some judges are not very impressed with the approach of solicitors to the application of the unique provisions of the AMCON Act. In some instances, judges have had to direct lawyers to relevant provisions of the Act. It is said that some lawyers are not at home with the provisions of the Act, particularly the AMCON special powers provided in the law.
“The AMCON (Amendment) Act, 2019 is very robust, and we urge you to take advantage of the provisions to safeguard our collective public interest. That should be taken together with the 2010 Act and the 2015 amendment. It is important that we express our determination to recover the over N5.4trillion debt giving its implication on the economy. We should not allow a few individuals to escape with our commonwealth. And we want to do it within the confines of the law,” Kuru said.
