Senate v Magu: Court fixes Dec 4 for judgment over confirmation

*As new SGF tells Saraki that Executive, Legislature is partners, not rivals
*Saraki in another secret deal with an offshore firm as revealed in Paradise Papers

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday fixed December 4 to deliver judgement in a suit by an Abuja based lawyer, Mr Oluwatosin Ojaomo, seeking an order deeming the Senate to have confirmed the appointment of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in accordance with the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004.

In what can be referred to as undefended suit, Justice John Tsoho consequently reserved judgement after Ojaomo adopted his written address.

This is even as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha has called for closer tie between the executive and the legislature under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, stating that both arms of government are partners and not rivals.

The lawyer in the Senate and Magu case is asking the court to grant the three reliefs contained in the originating summons he filed on 24 January, 2017.

The other reliefs are a declaratory order that Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and National Assembly lack the statutory power to reject the appointment of Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the EFCC according to the agency’s Establishment Act, 2004.

He is also seeking for an order of the court activating its statutory powers for the interpretation of the provisions of section 2 (1) (a)(i)(ii)(iii)and 2(3) of EFCC (Establishment Act, 2004) with respect to the appointment of the Chairman of the EFCC by the President and the subsequent confirmation of the appointment by the Senate of the National Assembly according to the dictates of the law.

Ojaomo, whose suit was supported by 20 paragraphs affidavit stated that the Senate of the National Assembly kept the appointment letter of Magu for six months and conducted a plenary session and through a press statement on December 15, 2016 by its spokesman announced that the appointment of Magu as substantive Chairman has been considered and rejected.

The plaintiff is further asking the court to hold as follows: “That the Senate claim was that the rationale behind the rejection of Magu confirmation was based on an unfavourable security report received against the nominee
“That the Senate acted ultra vires by rejecting an appointment validly made by the President to the office of the Chairman of EFCC in accordance with section 2 (1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii) and section 2(3) of the EFCC establishment Act, 2004.

“That the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not possess the powers to reject a person appearing before it when the person is nominated and recommended to the Senate for screening, vetting and subsequent confirmation like the qualification of the appointee as sent by the President and where the Senate is of the view that they require additional information in accordance with the statutory requirements stipulated by the act with respect to the qualification of the appointee, they can refer to the President for further clarification, but not rejection.”

When the matter came up on Monday, Mr. K.K. Ogbonnaya announced appearance for the Senate and pleaded with the court for adjournment to enable him respond to the originating summons.
But Ojaomo opposed Ogbonnaya’s request while the court subsequently discovered from its record that Ogbonnaya had not filed notice of appearance on the matter even though he admitted that the respondents; Senate President, National Assembly and Attorney General of the Federation were first served with the hearing notice of the matter on February 8, 2017.

In his brief ruling on the matter, Justice Tsoho held that since the hearing notice had previously been served on the defendants and the fact that the counsel have not filed appearance, the counsel was not entitled to be heard. “It is my conviction that the court cannot proceed with his application for adjournment and the oral application is refused.”

Meanwhile, the SGF pleaded for closer ties with the lawmakers when he met with the Senate President yesterday during a courtesy visit he paid to the National Assembly.

He urged the Senate to put behind them skirmishes between it and the executive arm, vowing to ensure the full collaboration of the two arms, using his office this time around.

The SGF said to Saraki, we are not in competition with the National Assembly. We are not rivals with the National Assembly. We are joint partners in this enterprise.

“If the National Assembly does not cooperate with the Presidency, I am not very sure we will be able to achieve the desired result that we want to see, given the mandate that we have freely received from the people of Nigeria.”

The Senate President echoed the same view when he described the visit to the Senate by the SGF as symbolic.
Saraki said he was confident that the SGF would use his office to strengthen the relationship between the legislature and the executive this time around, while assuring that the Senate under him would help the process.

He said, “Your visit truly shows your intention of ensuring that you use your period as SGF to ensure that we truly work together to make Nigeria great. You are very right and I think people like us are not surprised because we know your antecedents.

“You know that in the presidential system that we are running in this democracy, it is not possible for us to be able to achieve all our goals if the Executive and Legislature do not have, not just an okay relationship, but a fantastic and very close relationship.

“What you have done this afternoon has really brought that closer and I am sure that all my colleagues are going to appreciate that on the floor tomorrow when I communicate this to them. Truly, you have started on a very good note and I congratulate you.

“We will continue to work together to ensure that we deliver on our promises. As you said, the constitution is very clear on what our responsibilities are. You did not write it and I did not write it, neither did any of us in the National Assembly today, but we have all sworn to it and we must continue to ensure that we work with it and we work for the interest of Nigeria.

Earlier, Boss Mustapha praised the leadership of Saraki which he said has helped to stabilise the polity and also given the purposeful direction for democracy to yield better dividends.
He said, “After your emergence as the Chairman of the National Assembly and also the President of the Senate, you have provided the kind of leadership that is required to stabilise the polity.

“Nigeria as a nation has been going through some storms that we inherited, but because of your able leadership and your colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives, we have stabilised this process to a large extent,” he said.

In a related development, when all seems to be going well with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, another wave of scandal has emerged as he was named in the global list of infamy, which exposed some leading world politicians for utilizing shell companies in tax havens to conceal assets, evade tax, or launder funds.

The latest details emerged from a leaked data obtained by German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung, and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) from two offshore secrecy providers (Appleby and Asiaciti Trust) and 19 secrecy jurisdictions.

The leaked 1.4 terabyte data, now infamously dubbed Paradise Papers, contains 13.4 million records and is no doubt one of the biggest leaks in history.

The allegation came up barely 18 months after the Panama Papers scandal which also linked him to three secret offshore firms he used in concealing assets abroad.

Recall that The Senate President was recently discharged by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) when the Code of Conduct Bureau accused him of misappropriation of funds and under-declaration of assets when he was the governor of Kwara State. The CCT ruling has since been challenged by the at the Court of Appeal.

The code of conduct law requires a public office holder to declare all owned assets, as well as those owned by their spouses and children below the age of 18 including the ones abroad.

There are strong indications that if his link with the Paradise Papers exposure is proved, he risks fresh criminal charges.

According to information from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Saraki was uncovered as a board member of an offshore entity, Tenia Limited, starting from when he was governor of Kwara State till now that he is the President of Nigerian Senate, which violates the nation’s code of conduct law.

According to findings, Saraki established Tenia Limited in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven in the Caribbean since 2001, and operated it until at least 2015 as sole shareholder.

However, the nature of business embarked upon by the company is unclear, as well as the nature of asset he used to conceal it

It was also discovered that the details of the firm was missing in the assets declaration form both as the governor of Kwara State in 2003 and as a Senator in 2011.

For a year, more than 380 journalists from 96 media organisations in 67 countries celebrated the gigantic data, which cover a period of nearly 70 years, from 1950 to 2016.

More than 120 politicians and country leaders, in nearly 50 countries as well as hundreds of business people across
the world were identified in the record as users of offshore entities.

The Paradise Papers’ disclosure which came 18 months after the Panama Papers has provoked worldwide outrage over the infamous use of shell companies by the world’s political and business elite to evade tax and defraud countries.
There have also been debates about the ethics of using tax havens, where an estimated $32 trillion is believed held in offshore accounts, depriving their originating countries of tax revenues.

Tenia Ltd. was not amongst the hidden family assets of Saraki that were uncovered in the Panama Papers.
Meanwhile, Andrew Stephenson of Discreet Law, a London-based law firm, an attorney for Saraki, confirmed that he owns Tenia Ltd., but could not link the company with financial misdeeds.

He said, “There’s nothing unlawful in the ownership of offshore companies,” when responding to an ICIJ enquiry, adding that the company had never been active since it was set up.

“We are instructed that Tenia Ltd. has never held any assets, nor has it ever traded or conducted any other business, nor does it have anything to do with the tribunal proceedings in Nigeria,” Stephenson explained.

Details of his 2003 declaration, showed that Saraki listed European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation, Eficaz Ltd., Gensoft, All Africa Media Company, Merrill HHB Fund, Mundernet Fund and Izorch Incorporated as the only offshore companies he had interest.

Available information also showed that Saraki incorporated Tenia Ltd. in 2001 with Nigerian Head Office at 30 Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.