Following Prresident Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) (Amendment) Act 2019, Hon. Justice C.M.A. Olatoregun of the Federal High Court at the weekend called on the management of AMCON to adopt a new strategy by partnering other sister agencies of the Federal Government to stop its debtors from contesting elections for various leadership positions in the country.
Olatoregun who made the call at the weekend as Chairperson of a one- day seminar for External Solicitors and Asset Management Partners (AMPs) of AMCON organised by the firm of Legal Academy, said it was now the right time for AMCON to come up with a comprehensive database of its obligors and make such information available to bodieslike the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC); Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Department of State Security (DSS); Nigerian Police among other sister agencies of the government to stop them from contesting elections or aspiring to leadership positions in the country ab-initio.
With this strategy, the jurist posited that when election is approaching, lawyers can boldly approach the court and get orders to stop such obligor candidates from seeking votes from Nigerians thereby helping the Nigerian economy. According to her, lawyers need to understand that the over N5trillion owed AMCON belongs to all Nigerians including the lawyers meaning that recovering the outstanding debt will have huge positive impact on the economy of the country.
According to her, it is sad that the Nigerian society has continued to allow AMCON debtors and people who cannot honour a simple obligation to contest elections and in most occasions win and eventually occupy exalted offices in the country. She fumed, “It is in our constitution that people of questionable characters and criminals should not contest elections but we are yet to see confident lawyers that can come out and challenge this people beyond reasonable doubt that they are not eligible to stand for elections as a result of their heavy indebtedness.” She also reminded her audience that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) (Amendment) Act 2019 has literally opened new doors, which smart lawyers can explore to help AMCON and indeed Nigeria recover these huge debts.
Speaking in the same vein earlier, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer AMCON, Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru, in his welcome remarks lamented the huge outstanding debt of the Corporation estimated at over N5trillion, which will eventually become a burden to the Federal Government if at sunset AMCON failed to recover them. He said the interaction was very important to AMCON because, besides being a regular interaction, which produces positive result in the quest to recover AMCON’s indebtedness, the seminar was the first since the amendment of the Act by the National Assembly was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The AMCON boss who said the amended act has provided additional powers to an already strong Act of AMCON said, “It was a challenging process, but we owe a debt of gratitude to the National Assembly and indeed President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR for their courage and for putting the issue to rest and making the AMCON (Amendment No. 2) Act, 2019 a thing of the past.”