The Federal High Court sitting in Kano has dismissed the
application of deposed Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, seeking
to stop the State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission
(PCACC) from investigating a petition against him over N2 billion
alleged land scam.
In his judgment on Monday, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa held
that the court cannot restrain a statutory body from carrying out
its official responsibility.
He added that the deposed emir’s fundamental human rights
guaranteed under section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has not been breached in any
way by the investigation of the commission.
The judge said “the substratum of the entire case of the
applicant collapsed” with the court’s decision that there has been
no breach of the fundamental human right of the applicant, thereby
dismissing all other claims as mere “academic”.
Sanusi had approached the court on March 6, 2020, seeking to
halt PCACC’s invitation to him to come and explain his role in an
alleged land transaction scam.
He had asked the court to declare that PCACC’s refusal to give
him facilities and allow him adequate time to prepare for his
defence was a breach of his fundamental human right to a fair
hearing.
The deposed emir, therefore, urged the court to set aside the
letter of invitation extended to him and declare that PCACC be
perpetually restrained from further investigating him over the
breach of his fundamental human rights to a fair hearing.
However, PCACC and its chairman, Muhyi Magaji, through their
lawyer, Usman Fari, submitted during the trial that they were only
investigating allegations of fraud in the land transaction in
Darmanawa, in the state metropolis in which over N500 million was
alleged to have been siphoned through a proxy.
PCACC’s lawyer had informed the court that it received a
petition from a whistleblower that lands belonging to the Kano
Emirate Council, which the applicant was heading at the time, were
been illegally sold, and it invited and interviewed many people,
including officers and titleholders in the council.
It said its preliminary investigation was the reason it extended
an invitation to Sanusi and denied that it was unfair to the
deposed emir or any other person in the matter.
Fari argued that Sanusi cannot claim that his right to a fair
hearing was (likely) to be jeopardised when he refused to honour
the invitation extended to him while others did.
He said since PCACC was not a judicial or quasi-judicial body,
the requirements of fair hearing that was contemplated by Section
36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would not
be applicable.
He explained that the commission did not conduct a hearing to
determine anyone’s guilt, but rather carried out an investigation,
stressing that fair hearing was an opportunity to be heard and that
opportunity was granted to Sanusi.
On the allegation of bias, the lawyer noted that there was no
fact in Sanusi’s application to support the claim.
He, therefore, insisted that the deposed emir’s prayers to the
court to give an injunction restraining PCACC from further
investigating him would amount to frustrating the commission from
carrying out its statutory duties.
Fari then urged the court to disregard the prayers of the
deposed emir in the application.
Magaji told Channels Television after Monday’s sitting that the
commission would proceed with its investigation after the
judgement.
The Federal High Court sitting in Kano has dismissed the
application of deposed Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, seeking
to stop the State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission
(PCACC) from investigating a petition against him over N2 billion
alleged land scam.
In his judgment on Monday, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa held
that the court cannot restrain a statutory body from carrying out
its official responsibility.
He added that the deposed emir’s fundamental human rights
guaranteed under section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has not been breached in any
way by the investigation of the commission.
The judge said “the substratum of the entire case of the
applicant collapsed” with the court’s decision that there has been
no breach of the fundamental human right of the applicant, thereby
dismissing all other claims as mere “academic”.
Sanusi had approached the court on March 6, 2020, seeking to
halt PCACC’s invitation to him to come and explain his role in an
alleged land transaction scam.
He had asked the court to declare that PCACC’s refusal to give
him facilities and allow him adequate time to prepare for his
defence was a breach of his fundamental human right to a fair
hearing.
The deposed emir, therefore, urged the court to set aside the
letter of invitation extended to him and declare that PCACC be
perpetually restrained from further investigating him over the
breach of his fundamental human rights to a fair hearing.
However, PCACC and its chairman, Muhyi Magaji, through their
lawyer, Usman Fari, submitted during the trial that they were only
investigating allegations of fraud in the land transaction in
Darmanawa, in the state metropolis in which over N500 million was
alleged to have been siphoned through a proxy.
PCACC’s lawyer had informed the court that it received a
petition from a whistleblower that lands belonging to the Kano
Emirate Council, which the applicant was heading at the time, were
been illegally sold, and it invited and interviewed many people,
including officers and titleholders in the council.
It said its preliminary investigation was the reason it extended
an invitation to Sanusi and denied that it was unfair to the
deposed emir or any other person in the matter.
Fari argued that Sanusi cannot claim that his right to a fair
hearing was (likely) to be jeopardised when he refused to honour
the invitation extended to him while others did.
He said since PCACC was not a judicial or quasi-judicial body,
the requirements of fair hearing that was contemplated by Section
36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would not
be applicable.
He explained that the commission did not conduct a hearing to
determine anyone’s guilt, but rather carried out an investigation,
stressing that fair hearing was an opportunity to be heard and that
opportunity was granted to Sanusi.
On the allegation of bias, the lawyer noted that there was no
fact in Sanusi’s application to support the claim.
He, therefore, insisted that the deposed emir’s prayers to the
court to give an injunction restraining PCACC from further
investigating him would amount to frustrating the commission from
carrying out its statutory duties.
Fari then urged the court to disregard the prayers of the
deposed emir in the application.
Magaji told Channels Television after Monday’s sitting that the
commission would proceed with its investigation after the
judgement.