On AMCON And The Hypocritical Defenders Of The Law By Festus Ogun

Barely 24 hours after Major General Mohammadu Buhari appointed
Mr. Muhammad Nami, a tax consultant, as the Chairman of
the Federal
Inland Revenue Service^[1],
replacing Mr. Tunde Fowler, the President has replaced Dr.
Muiz Banire with Mr. Edward Adamu as the head of
the Asset Management Corporation
of Nigeria^[2] (AMCON).

Reading through the reactions of Nigerians on social media, the
appointments seem not to go well with many Nigerians who raised the
fear that the President favours Northerners in his appointments
which is inimical to the peaceful co-existence of the country. For
instance, they argued, virtually all the leaderships of security
agencies in Nigeria are headed by people from the Northern part of
the country showing a clear case of nepotism on the side of the
President.

In truth, the President of Nigeria has always fragrantly
breached the Federal Character principle enshrined in the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2011 as amended
when making appointments. Section 14(3) of the Constitution
provides that “the government of the Federation or any of its
agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in
such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and
the need to promote national unity and also to command national
loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of
persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional
groups in that government or in any of its agencies.”

However, Buhari has not only violated this Constitutional
mandate, he was also quoted to have said that “this time around I’m
going to be quiet me – me in the sense that I will pick people I
personally know”. That statement alone is, in my view, a testament
to his tribalistic stance in making appointment. But I’ve
digressed. These are not the issues for today.

Following the heavy criticisms of the AMCON appointment by many
Nigerians, the President’s paid “King’s Horsemen” have gone ahead
to defend the appointment of Mr. Muhammad Nami by quoting Section
10 of the AMCON Act, 2019 as amended, which provides that there
shall be “a part-time chairman who shall be a Deputy Governor in
the Central Bank of Nigeria to be nominated by the Central Bank of
Nigeria.’’ I have perused the recently amended AMCON Act and I
can confirm that the defenders of the President are partially right
in law for their justification of the appointment but very wrong,
in fact.

First, Mr. Muhammad Nami is not the only Deputy Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria. I can confirm that people from other parts
of the country hold that same position and are fit and proper. Why
were they not appointed? Funnily enough, the President, in his
letter to the Senate did not make any such reference to the 2019
amendment of the AMCON Act. The President said: “In accordance with
SECTION 10(1) OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORPORATION OF NIGERIA
(AMCON) ACT, 2010, I hereby present Mr. Edward Adamu for
confirmation as Chairman of the Asset Management Corporation of
Nigeria” (Emphasis mine).

My little knowledge of law tells me that the AMCON Act, 2010 is
not the same as AMCON (Amendment) Act, 2019 or simply AMCON Act,
2010 (2019 as amended). So, the President’s defenders argument
becomes faulty because the law the President made reference to in
his letter does not tally with that which they are advocating its
invocation and their provisions are different altogether. They live
in an embarrassingly helpless contradiction and act like the
proverbial bowl hotter than the soup.

Second, it is very laughable and hypocritical of the President’s
“Napoleon is always right” to justify an obvious nepotism using the
instrumentality of law. One cannot be Catholic than the Pope. This
man being justified has never pretended to believe in the rule of
law and our constitutional democracy. He is notorious for
arbitrariness, disrespect to court orders and gross violations of
the Constitution. It now funny to see the defenders of this kind of
President talk about law in defence of a chauvinist. They now
attempt to use the same law they always disregard, as a shield for
their paid-master’s toxic wrongdoings and use same as a sword
against the Nigerian people. Sycophancy taken too far!

Whereas the same President defended for “acting legally”
appointed Dr. Muiz Banire in breach of the AMCON Act. Section 10(a)
of the AMCON Act, 2010 (before its amendment recently) provided
that “the part-time Chairman shall be a nominee of the Federal
Ministry of Finance in consultation with the minister”. Was Dr.
Muiz Banire of the Federal Ministry of Finance? Certainly not;
meaning the appointment was illegal ab initio. He was nonetheless
unlawfully appointed by the President.

To the shock of many, an unqualified Banire was subsequently
confirmed by the Senate. The Senate did not just confirm Banire’s
illegal appointment by chance, it “followed the adoption of
the reports on the nominees by the Senate Committee on Banking,
Insurance and Other Financial Institutions”. How a Banire who was
not near to being qualified got into the equation and later got
“confirmed” by the Senate should give us all a cause to worry about
our institutions and the place of the rule of law in our
country.

The above is just one out of many arrogant displays of crass
lawlessness in the administration of General Buhari. How his media
aides now come about using the law to defend his ethnicist
tendencies, in this AMCON appointment, shows a contemptuous act of
dissimulation. Nigerians, who are patiently watching, are too wise
to be played upon. His defenders should give such a defence to
other people of greater gullibility. Not Nigerians.

Or is hypocrisy a Nigerian?

Festus Ogun is a human rights activist,
constitutional law enthusiast and convener of Legal Minds for Good
Governance Initiative. [email protected]^[3];
09066324982

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