The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has come under fire from Nigerian lawyers for reportedly funding the training of some justices of the Federal High Court in the United Kingdom.
The attorneys claim that a government organisation allegedly flew the judicial officers abroad for training.
According to Anaedoonline.ng, the annual training for the judges in London was attended by AMCON Managing Director Ahmed Kuru and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Tukur.
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Sources allegedly charged AMCON with flying the judges to London for the training at exorbitant cost despite the fact that practically all of the resource people were from Nigeria.
A source told the platform that “Hon. Justice John T. Tsoho, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice A.O. Faji of the Federal High Court, and other Federal High Court Judges from Nigeria are currently in London for the training, which was declared open on Monday, July 31 by the High Commissioner for Nigeria in the UK, Sarafa Tunji Isola.”
Another source expressed regret that AMCON financed judges to the UK for training despite costing Nigerians the loss of thousands of jobs due to lack of experience in its debt recovery operation and liquidation of multiple enterprises.
“Despite causing job losses and destroying several businesses in Nigeria, AMCON sponsored judges to the UK for training and put them in a hotel.
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“This comes at a time Nigeria is having challenges saving forex. This whole training during the judges’ vacation is an organised racket by AMCON to bribe the Lordships and get them to compromise cases. We heard that foreign currencies were doled out to them.
“What if other agencies also take judges to various countries for training?” one of the sources said.
Another source noted that “Kuru and the head of NFIU are in London with some federal high court judges, claiming to be training them on financial-related cases.
“It turns out AMCON used third parties to arrange the façade or so-called training when only the National Judicial Institute (NJI) has the statutory power to train judges.”
In the meantime, some attorneys have criticised the action on the Nigerian Bar Association WhatsApp group.
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They presented arguments as to why the AMCON, which is involved in a number of court cases, would instruct “a class of judicial officers how to handle their cases.”
“Lawyers’ Whatsapp groups are buzzing over the scandal. The FHC Chief judge is in hot soup,” a lawyer told SaharaReporters on Sunday.
One of the posts in the group seen by the platform read, “It’s not the work of NBA to train judges. There is National Judicial Institute, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Law Faculties, etc. The closest that AMCON, EFCC, etc., should do is to sponsor or collaborate with these institutions to train judicial officers.
“For a party to a class of cases to be training a class of judicial officers to handle their cases is rather scandalous and a terrible insult on separation of powers and independence of the judiciary. This our culture of never saying ‘no, thank you’ had destroyed every ethical fabric of our nation.”
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Another WhatsApp post read, “The FHC should have drawn a list of the parties involved in AMCON cases and invited them and their lawyers as participants in the conference, na! Very funny excuse.”
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