- The former presidential candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) Mr. Tope Fasua in his suit against the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Attorney General of the Federation, through his lawyer Barrister JohnBosco Bankong has said that the defendants are frustrating the efforts of the current administration from alleviating poverty in the country.
The former presidential candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) Mr. Tope Fasua in his suit against the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Attorney General of the Federation, through his lawyer Barrister JohnBosco Bankong has said that the defendants are frustrating the efforts of the current administration from alleviating poverty in the country.
He said this during an interview with our correspondent today in, Abuja.
Fasua who is also the CEO of the Institute for Service Excellence and Good Governance a non-governmental organization filed a suit against the defendants at the Federal High Court in Abuja on January 23, 2019, praying the court to compel the defendants to carry out their duty and recover the debt of 5.4 trillion Naira some companies own the Federal government.
According to JohnBosco, the NGO sued AMCON and Attorney General for their negligence in recovering the debt since the list of defaulters which include Shell Development Petroleum Company, Mobil Workers Eket Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Chevron oil and Staff Multipurpose Society and many others have been published in October 2018. These staff cooperatives of major international oil companies together owe the Nigerian public over 40 billion naira which they are believed to have sunk into luxury real estate projects while most Nigerians wallow in extreme poverty.
“From publication from both print media, social media sharing that the federal government is being owned 5.4 trillion Naira as debt and some of these companies are also named in that particular publication.”, said Mr Johnbosco Bankong, lawyer to the NGO, who brought the action before the Federal High Court Abuja
“And because of this debt the federal government cannot function effectively because it is tax payers’ money that is supposed to be used to develop, train and some other things. The people who are supposed to recover this money, AMCON are so lackadaisical, they don’t want to do it because they are comprising. Under the AMCON act, AMCON has the right in conjunction with the attorney general to instill action against defaulting debtors of the federal government. And under that particular act also, AMCON and the attorney general have the right to seize any asset of any debtor who owns the federal government and refuses to pay.” Bankong further stated at length.
He claims the money if recovered can be use for the betterment of Nigerians and also ensure smooth running of the economy.
Barrister JohnBosco said the suit became necessary after writing letters to the defendants informing them of the need to recover the debt in order to ensure smooth running of the economy by the present administration but got a frivolous response from them.
He added that the plaintiff application is based on national and public interest in order to ensure a smooth running of the nation’s economy.
“We as a citizen of Nigeria, having the right under section 24, (subsection B,D,and E) of the 1991 constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria filed an ex parte application in court and the plaintiff having the legal right to sue and to be sued and has a right to defend the interest of justice
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on May 11, 2019 granted leave to the applicant to apply for an order of mandamus compelling the defendant/Respondents to exercise the legal duty to and institute legal proceedings against the debtors.
However, the Attorney General of Federation has filed a preliminary objection in response to the High Court judgement saying it lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
As at the time of filling this report, our correspondent could not reach the counsel of the defendants as their phone numbers were not going through.
