How Sanusi floored Nigerian government, FRCN in court

CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi

“The plaintiff submitting himself for investigation (by FRCN) is like the cockroach finding itself in the midst of fowls. Such a cockroach cannot be innocent.”
A Federal High Court in Lagos, Monday, barred the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, from investigating Lamido Sanusi, the suspended governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The court frowned at what it described as the council’s “desperate goading” of the presidency to punish Mr. Sanusi over allegations of financial impropriety.
In his judgment which lasted almost two hours, John Tsoho also declared that the federal high court has the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter brought before it by the suspended CBN governor.
The judge said that although the FRCN is saddled with ensuring good governance and accountability in financial circles, their posturing towards Mr. Sanusi shows that they are already prejudiced.
Mr. Tsoho also countered the FRCN’s argument that their recommendation to the presidency, made after their preliminary probe, was merely advisory. The judge said that it was obvious that they had already decided Mr. Sanusi’s fate, even before their investigation.
“Prejudice is very pronounced in the language of that document. The language of the briefing note (transmitted by the FRCN to the presidency) conveys a sense of the defendant desperately goading the presidency to deal with the plaintiff,” Judge Tsoho said.
“The plaintiff submitting himself for investigation (by FRCN) is like the cockroach finding itself in the midst of fowls. Such a cockroach cannot be innocent,” he added.
‘COMPETENT SUIT’
After his suspension from office last February over allegations of financial recklessness, Mr. Sanusi had dragged the FRCN to the court to stop them from investigating his tenure as the apex bank’s boss.
He also sought a declaration that the FRCN does not have the power to constitute itself into an investigating body; that the body having already accused him of financial impropriety can no longer investigate him; and an order restraining the FRCN or any of its privies from conducting or continuing its investigation of him.
The judge declared all the issues sought in favour of the plaintiff (Mr. Sanusi) and granted all his reliefs.
In their argument, the defendants (FRCN) stated that the court does not have the power to adjudicate on the suit because Mr. Sanusi did not exhaust the internal mechanism of grievance resolution in the FRCN Act 2011.
Section 66 of the Act states that any aggrieved public interest or professional entity should table its appeal before the council’s technical oversight committee, and that all methods of resolution must be exhausted before any external adjudication is sought.
The FRCN accused Mr. Sanusi of “jumping the gun,” describing his suit before the court as “incompetent and a pre-emptive act.”
But Mr. Sanusi argued that the FRCN’s transmission of their briefing note, which indicted him, to the presidency even before he appeared before the council was a violation of his right to fair hearing.
“The person whose fundamental right is threatened is allowed to take action at that stage,” the judge said, in support of Mr. Sanusi’s justification of rushing to the court.
“In the case of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, this is to avoid the avalanche before it gathers momentum.
“The plaintiff’s suit as it is before this court is regular and competent and the defendants’ preliminary objection is pre-conceived and confounded and is accordingly dismissed,” the judge added.
In arguing that the FRCN’s attempt to investigate him is beyond their powers, Mr. Sanusi admitted that the body has the power to investigate financial professionals but that the investigation must be limited to the object and purpose of the FRCN.
“The first defendant is neither the Nigeria Police Force or any other law enforcement agency charged with the duty to investigate offences and infractions. That even where a statute confers investigative powers to a body, it must be limited to the provisions of the establishing statutes,” Mr. Sanusi’s lawyers argued.
The judge agreed with the plaintiff’s lawyers, noting that the FRCN’s continued investigation of both their client and his tenure as CBN boss would be ineffective since he had been pre-judged.
“It is glaring that if they kept the letters of the Act, they did not or have not respected the spirit of its enabling provisions.
“It is like putting the cart before the horse and expecting the horse to run… The fore-knowledge of the facts should therefore disqualify the defendants from investigating the tenure of the plaintiff.
The judge also noted that Mr. Sanusi had provided ample evidence that the FRCN is biased against him and cannot be impartial in its investigation.
“If they (FRCN) are allowed to go ahead, it is predictable that a jaundiced or skewed recommendation would be arrived at,” the judge added.