In this report, AMEH EJEKWONYILO examines the various issues surrounding the recent suit filed by the embattled Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and The NNPC at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, challenging the constitutionality of the National Assembly to investigate her as well as her lawyer’s views on the matter
Worried by the torrent of probes instituted by various committees of the National Assembly since her assumption of office as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), last week filed a fresh suit before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, seeking to restrain the National Assembly from investigating her over alleged N10bn chartered jet scandal.
The suit is coming on the heels of a fresh directive handed down by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to the House Committee on Public Accounts to resume investigations that Mrs. Diezani allegedly blew N10 billion of public funds to fuel her private jet.
Tambuwal while giving the directive at a plenary session last Wednesday regretted earlier newspaper reports that he (Tambuwal) directed the committee to suspend the investigative exercise following a restraining order from the court.
Earlier, spokesman of the House, Hon. Zakari Mohammed gave the impression at a press briefing a month ago that the court had stalled the investigative exercise.
This necessitated Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja where the purported restraining order was made stalling the probe of the minister.
Justice Mohammed specifically ordered the House of Representatives to appear before the court and clear the air on when and where the “restraining order” was issued as well as to show cause why the court should allow the probe to be carried.
The fresh suit marked FHC/ABJ/346/2014, and filed through the plaintiffs’ counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Diezani and the NNPC are praying the court to declare that both the Senate and the House of Representatives lacked the power to conduct any investigation into the allegation of fraud, corruption or criminal activities.
The Senate and House of Representatives are the only respondents in the suit.
Similarly, the applicants are praying the court to restrain both chambers of the National Assembly from further “conducting direct personal or physical probe, inquiry and/ or investigation into any alleged fraud, corruption or other criminal activities under the applicants’ supervision or control”.
They equally seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the National Assembly from summoning them “or any agencies under the applicants’ supervision or control, to appear before them for the purpose of giving evidence and/ or producing any papers, books, records or other documents, which relate to the the unpublished official records of the applicants without the consent of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria first and obtained by the Respondents or their committees”.
Blueprint recalls that The Petroleum Resources Minister and the NNPC have a similar suit pending before Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The applicants submitted five issues for determination. One, “whether by virtue of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered, particularly Sections 88, 89 and 214 thereof, the Respondents or any of their Committees are legally and constitutionally empowered and/ or competent to personally/ physically probe or conduct investigation into allegations of fraud or other criminal activities said to have occurred in the agencies under the applicants’ supervision or control, when there exist agencies that are legally and constitutionally empowered to carry out or conduct such investigations into alleged fraud or criminal acts and prosecute offenders upon conclusion of their investigations”, among other issues.
Subsequently, counsel to the plaintiffs, Chief Ozekhome (SAN) wrote a terse letter to the National Assembly, notifying them of the pending suit, and urged the to exercise restraint until the matter is eventually determined by the court; as anything contrary would amount to subjudice.
“This letter is to notify your goodself and the distinguished Houses of the National Assembly, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of the pendency of the above suit, and to further implore you not to take any steps on the issues herein raised for determination, as that would amount to contempt of Court in this matter that is now subjudice”.
He further maintained that, “It is a trite principle of law that once the pendency of a matter has been brought to the attention of a party, steps should not and ought not to be taken that will prejudice the outcome of the case or render nugatory whatever judgment the Court will arrive at”.
You would recall that President Goodluck Jonathan had in recent interview with journalists in the country,lamented the continuous distractions of his ministers by the National Assembly under the guise of oversight function.
The alleged distractions by President Jonathan as well as the various suits instituted by the embattled Petroleum Minister to quash the ongoing probe into her activities at the Ministry,are some of the varied opinions amongst Nigerians that Mrs. Diezani numerous suits is a ploy to buy time so as to evade her investigation; knowing full well that our courts are notorious in determining cases before them expeditious.
The ability or otherwise of the courts to timeously determine whether the National Assembly have the powers to investigate the petroleum Minister and her agency, the NNPC, or not would either confirm the judiciary as the strongest pillar of democracy or otherwise in the country!
