I’m not under pressure over Sanusi suit -Judge

    
The judge hearing the suit filed before an Abuja Federal High Court by Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Lamido Sanusi, to challenge his suspension from office, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, on Wednesday denied insinuations that he was under pressure over the case.
Sanusi had last week recorded major legal victories over the Federal Government in a fundamental rights enforcement suit he filed before a Lagos Federal High Court, and in the wake of the development, unnamed persons reportedly claimed that Justice Kolawole had been put under pressure to determine the case in the Abuja FHC against the suspended CBN governor.
However, Justice Kolawole dismissed the insinuations when the case came up for hearing on Wednesday.
Stressing that he was not under pressure from any of the defendants in the suit – President Goodluck Jonathan, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar – Justice Kolawole urged Sanusi’s lawyers to take their case to another judge if they are not confident in his ability to do justice to the matter.
Noting that he was informed of the reports that he (Justice Kolawole) “was being pressurized to do the case against Sanusi,” the judge said, “Is it by the President, or the AGF, or the IG?
“Is it the Federal Government that is pressurizing Justice Kolawole to do a case against a party?
“I am saying this to give the plaintiff the opportunity to go to another court.
“I have spent several years on the Bench and I can tell you that nobody pressurizes me – nobody is pressurizing Justice Kolawole on this matter,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “I said I will mention this not to create sensation but for anybody who is not comfortable to go to another place.
“If I am being pressurized it is by my own conscience – none of the parties should be under the impression that I am being pressurized by the Federal Government.”
The judge pointed out that if he was unfair in adjudicating the matter, he would not have accelerated the proceedings by hearing the preliminary objections and the originating motion at the same time.
“Anybody who does not have confidence in Justice Kolawole in this case should go back to the Chief Judge (of the FHC),” he added.
But, in their separate reactions to the judge’s comments, all the counsel to the various parties in the case spoke of their confidence in Justice Kolawole’s integrity, and his ability to do justice to the case.
Sanusi’s lawyer, Kola Awodein, SAN, said he was ready to go ahead with the case before Justice Kolawole.
“I have confidence in the judge in this case and we are ready to go on,” Awodein said.
In his submissions afterwards, Awodein asked the court to discountenance the defendants’ argument that the subject matter of the suit centered on employment and as a result, the suit ought to be heard by the National Industrial Court, rather than the FHC.
Asking the court to dismiss the preliminary objections and assume jurisdiction to determine the suit, Awodein said, “Our case is not about employment – the plaintiff is not an employee of the President notwithstanding that the appointment was made by the President.”
He added that Sanusi has no problem with the CBN.
“By way of analogy the Chief Justice of Nigeria is appointed by the President, does that make the CJN an employee of the President? Certainly not.
“It is clear that the governor is an employee of the CBN, that is what we are saying.”
Awodein maintained that the President lacked the powers to suspend Sanusi, and as a result, the court should redress the situation by setting aside the suspension.
“It is dangerous for the country to say that the President has such unrestrained powers to suspend,” he said.
On their part, the defendants insisted that Sanusi’s suspension was in order, and asked the court to dismiss his suit.
Counsel to the President, Fabian Ajogu, SAN, who informed the court that Sanusi awarded a N163bn contract, which he said was 63 per cent in excess of the statutory limit for the apex bank, however, insisted that although the CBN was independent by the provisions of its enabling laws, the CBN governor was not independent.
Ajogu said, “Section 1 (3) of the CBN Act said the bank shall be independent but the plaintiff (Sanusi) seems to have assumed the independence for himself.
“He is answerable to the board which he chairs.
“The CBN as an institution is independent and separate from the governor.
“The CBN is not even made a party to the suit – the tenure of the plaintiff ends in June 2014 but the CBN shall remain.”
Insisting that Sanusi’s suit should be filed before the National Industrial Court, he added that there was no case against the President because he (Jonathan) only suspended Sanusi, pending investigations, and did not sack him.
Also opposing Sanusi’s suit, counsel to the AGF, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, argued that the President should have dismissed the CBN governor.
Noting that Sanusi should have resigned honourably in the wake of the allegations brought against him by the Financial Reporting Council, Ozekhome said, “In fact, if I were Mr. President, I will dismiss him and take it to the Senate.
“You cannot stay in a system and work against it.
“Mr. President was right to suspend the CBN governor, I daresay he ought to dismiss him.”
In the same vein, counsel to the IGP, Solomon Umoh, SAN, argued that in the face of the allegations against the CBN governor, it would be wrong to leave him in office just because of the independence of the apex bank.
He further argued that there was no case against the IGP, noting that the police chief was only joined in the suit because Sanusi felt the President will use the police to arrest him.
Justice Kolawole fixed May 20 to deliver judgment in the suit.