Senate passes AMCON Amendment Bill, confirms Justice Abdullahi as FCT High Court CJ

The Senate has passed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Amendment Bill.
This followed the adoption of the report of Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions at plenary on Wednesday.
Presenting the report, Senator Uba Sani, Chairman of the Committee, said the committee engaged stakeholders including AMCON, Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) before arriving at its conclusion.
He said the stakeholders in their submissions suggested that AMCON be empowered to take possession, manage, sell, transfer, assign property used as security for eligible bank assets among others.
This, he said would provide for a quicker, easier and legitimate process of assets disposal.
Deputy President of Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, at the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, sought clarification on some provisions.
“The essence of collateral, is that in the event of default, you lose that asset.
”What I am reading here is that in addition to seizing that asset, AMCON want to go beyond that to every other asset or property that is traceable to the debtor, I think I need some clarifications to that,” he said.
President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan, however, called for voting on the bill, which was adopted by majority of the lawmakers.
However, Senators Bassey Akpan and Chukwuka Utazi, while relying on a Point of Order, contested the ruling of the Senate President by requesting for a division.
But the Senate President overruled them.
“When we come to legislate, we all come here with very clear mind, that we are doing this for our country, we don’t have any interest but the national interest.
“And when majority of our colleagues here in their judgement feel that this is the right thing to do, that’s the majority view, unless we have any cause to reverse ourselves.
“If the majority of Senators say that this is what they feel should be done to remedy a situation that requires our attention, I think we should allow that.
“Besides, I believe we had explanations from the Committee members who went through all the processes, so, I believe that we should let it go.
“Let the people go to court to test it, but our hope and desire is for AMCON to be able to recover huge sums of money, trillions that people have taken and now is on the head of Nigerians.
“And, it is criminal, really. People will consciously take money, I will advise that we stick to our decision.”
The bill empowered AMCON to, among others, take possession, manage or sell property traced to debtors, whether or not such asset or property was used as collateral for obtaining loan.
The Senate also confirmed the appointment of Hon. Justice Salisu Abdullahi, as the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The confirmation of Abdullahi’s nomination followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters during plenary.
In the presentation of the committee Chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Abdullahi was found to have demonstrated sufficient knowledge and full grasp of the law, in response to questions put to him on the independence of the judiciary.
He said that the appointment of the nominee satisfied the requirements of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Senate Standing Orders, 2015, as amended.
“Hon. Justice Salisu Abdullahi has a wide range of experience, comportment, exposure and possesses the requisite leadership qualities of a Judicial Officer, to effectively superintend over a court of such magnitude and complexity.
“He can exercise restraint and uphold the dignity of the High Court of the FCT, Abuja, and the litigants in the discharge of his official functions,” he said.
He added that there was no petition or adverse report against the nomination of the nominee, as the chief judge of the high court of the FCT.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, on April 20, requested the senate to confirm the nominee as the substantive Chief Judge of the FCT High Court.
According to the president, the request was made pursuant to Section 256(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Abdullahi was appointed the acting Chief Judge of the FCT High Court on January 6, a position he held until his appointment by Buhari in a substantive capacity.