Court Strikes Out Suit Against Sovereign Wealth Authority, MD

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, struck out a suit seeking an order for the suspension of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Uche Orji, and an order for a forensic audit of the organisation’s accounts from inception.

The plaintiff, an Abuja bases lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, in his suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/628/2020, challenged the legality of the NSIA, which was created by the NSIA (establishment) Act 2011 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to receive, manage and invest some of the Federal Account funds to prepare for the eventual depletion of Nigeria’s oil reserve.

The defendants in the suit are the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (first); the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila (second); the National Assembly (third), and its clerk, Mohammed Sani-Omolori (fourth).

Others are the NSIA (fifth), the agency’s MD, Mr Orji (sixth); the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (seventh), and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed (eighth).

The plaintiff had filed the suit on May 22, 2020, arguing that various provisions of the NSIA Act violated the provisions of sections 80 and 162 of the Nigerian Constitution which created the Federation Account/Consolidated Revenue Fund Account and provided that all revenues accruing to the Federal Government must be paid into them and shared by the tiers of governments.

He also argued that the National Assembly lacked the power to make a law like the NSIA which he contended authorised the violation of the provisions of Sections 80 and 162 of the Constitution.

But on July 6, 2020, Jideobi filed an application for the withdrawal of the suit, without giving any reason, he urged the court to strike it out.

However, at the proceedings of July 7, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), representing NSIA and its MD, urged the court to rather dismiss the suit instead of striking it out as demanded by the plaintiff.

Awomolo urged the court to dismiss the suit with a cost of N1 million awarded against the plaintiff because the application for the withdrawal of the suit was belatedly filed after his clients were made to go through the rigour of filing their defence in the case.

But the plaintiff had insisted that the case be struck out and not dismissed.

Justice Mohammed in his ruling, on Monday, held that going by the rules of the court, the appropriate order to make was that of striking out and not of dismissal, even as he held that the plaintiff did not require the leave of court to withdraw the suit because the application for its withdrawal filed on July 6, 2020, was filed within 14 days of serving the suit on the defendants on July 1.

The court, however, ruled that the two defendants (NSIA and its MD), having been made to file their defence before the application for the withdrawal of the suit was filed, were entitled to N150,000 cost to be paid to them by the plaintiff.

He then ruled that the plaintiff should pay the N150,000 cost to the two defendants before taking any future steps which might include refiling the suit on the same subject matter against the same set of defendants or their privies.