LAW Court throws out suit challenging Buhari’s powers to appoint NDDC MD
AFederal High court in Abuja has dismissed a suit challenging the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Obong Nsima Ekere as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Justice Gabriel Kolawole held on Wednesday that the judicial powers of the court could not be invoked for a plaintiff who could not take the benefit.
President Buhari had appointed Obong Nsima Ekere as the Managing Director of the NDDC and Ndoma Egba as chairman but the plaintiff - Incorporated Trustees of Oron Union (ITOU) - sued Mr. President saying that Obong Ekere was not from Oron, in Akwa Ibon State.
Ekere is a former deputy governor Akwa Ibom State. He is from Ikot Abasi Local Government Area in Eket Senatorial district. Those joined in the suit as codefendants are the President, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN; the Senate President ; the National Assembly, Obong Nsima Ekere and Mr. Frank Samuel George.
Section 12 (1) of the NDDC Act provides that “There shall be for the NDDC a Managing Director and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in order production.”
Dayo Apata, Director Civil Litigation, Federal Ministry of Justice, filed a preliminary objection challenging the locus standi of the plaintiff to institute the matter.
The court in its ruling acknowledged that though the plaintiff is a juristic person in law, it is an artificial person and the reliefs sought by it, which is the appointment of a person from Oron into the Board of the NDDC, can only be enjoyed by a natural person.
Justice Kolawole held that in the event that the application of the plaintiff is successful, there are issues that will be left unresolved.
The issues, according to the court are - Who are the members of the ITOU? Can President Buhari nominate the ITOU? Who among the members of of ITOU is eligible to be appointed?
The court stated that ITOU had failed to identify or define its members as it is not all the Oron people that are members of the ITOU.
The court held further that President Buhari cannot nominate ITOU for appointment into the Board of NDDC as the position can only be occupied by a natural person which the plaintiff is not.
According to Justice Kolawole, the person to be nominated must not only be eligible but must have offered himself for nomination.
The court emphasised that it is not in doubt of the fact that the judicial powers of the court cannot be invoked for ITOU which cannot take benefit.
It added that in the event of ITOU’s application being successful it (ITOU) cannot benefit from the court’s order and on that basis the suit was dismissed.