AGF asked to intervene in Investment Tribunal crisis

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has been urged to intervene in the leadership crisis rocking the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), sources said.

A source in the tribunal, who pleaded anonymity, said the embattled chairman of IST, Siaka Isaiah Idoko-Akoh wrote to the AGF and explained that he was not given fair hearing before he was asked to leave, adding that no panel indicted him in the allegation of corruption.

“The AGF and office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation are already doing something about the matter. That is why he (Idoko-Akoh) is confident that justice would be served,” the source said yesterday.

The source also stated that the letter suspending Idoko-Akoh was dubious because both President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, were outside the country when the letter relieving him of his appointment was sent.

In a letter dated September 24, 2019, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, announced the president’s approval of the removal of Idoko-Akoh as the chairman of IST.

He directed him to hand over to Mr J. I. Udumi, a full-time member of the tribunal who by the same letter has been appointed as acting chairman of the IST

The IST is an independent specialized judicial body established with the responsibility of interpreting the ISA and adjudicating on disputes and controversies in capital market transactions.

Meanwhile, the leadership crisis in IST is still affecting the staff union, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Technicians, Entertainment and Recreational Employers (AUPUCTRE) which has two factions.

This followed an order of the National Industrial Court on May 21 that AUPUCTRE is not the legal trade union to represent members of staff of the IST.