The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday barred the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) from investigating suspended Governor of the Central Bank Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi.
The court’s decision is coming three months after the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, suspended Mr Sanusi on allegations of financial recklessness.
Sanusi has denied the allegations, saying he had followed approved procedures while doing his job.
At a sitting on April 18, the court said the judgement on the suit filed by Sanusi, challenging his invitation to appear before the investigating panel set up by the FRCN, would be delivered on May 12.
At the April 18 proceedings, presided over by Justice John Tsoho, counsel to the suspended CBN governor, Mr Kola Awodein, insisted that the FRCN should be stopped from further investigating Mr Sanusi because the organisation had demonstrated bias when it earlier indicted him without giving him the opportunity to defend himself.
Part of the council’s recommendation was that there was a need for thorough investigation of the activities of the CBN .
In a counter affidavit and preliminary objection filed and argued on behalf of the FRCN and its Executive Secretary, the defendants submitted that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the suit as the plaintiff, the suspended CBN governor had not exhausted the internal mechanism put in place for the resolution of grievances.
The FRCN argued that the investigation panel was not biased and had not arrived at any conclusion in respect of the investigation of the activities of the CBN for the financial year of 2011 and 2012 . It therefore asked the court to strike out the suit for being misconceived and premature.
In a judgment which lasted almost 2 hours, Justice James Tsoho first dismissed the application by the FRCN, that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit. The court held that the matter was a fundamental right issue which it could adjudicate upon.
After that, Justice Tsoho held there is clear evidence that the FRCN’s bid to investigate Mr Sanusi’s tenure at CBN is tainted with bias and motivated by bad faith.
He held that while the FRCN Act empowered it to conduct such an enquiry, it could not do so without recourse to due process.
