Banking
Suspended CBN governor loses re instatement bid
ABUJA — The suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, lost his bid to return to office as the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja declined to set aside his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The court, in its 84-page judgment, said it was bereft of the jurisdiction to reinstate the ousted CBN Governor, stressing that the nature of his suit bothered on a dispute between an employer and his employee, which it said only the National Industrial Court, NIC, has the statutory powers to adjudicate on.
However, before referring the case to the NIC, presiding Justice Gabriel Kolawole described as baseless Sanusi’s claim that he was not an employee of the Federal Government but that of the CBN.
He ruled: “When I read through the arguments of the plaintiff, I then asked myself, so whose employee is he?
“It is not in dispute that the CBN is an agency of the Federal Government and a statutory body created by the National Assembly.
“The appointment of the plaintiff was made in line with the CBN Act.
“By this, the plaintiff qualifies as a public officer in the public service of the federation. Therefore, the plaintiff’s appointment cannot be equated with that of specific public officers like judicial officers as he has argued.
“His appointment was not categorically captured in the constitution. Even at that, in the case of such judicial officers, the National Judicial Council, NJC, would have been joined as a necessary defendant.
“Going through the entire process, I asked myself again, why were the CBN and its acting governor, Dr. Sarah Alade, who the plaintiff contended was illegally appointed, not joined as necessary parties in the suit?”
Justice Kolawole noted that the non-joinder of the acting CBN governor would ordinarily have affected the outcome of the suit, saying the court would not have granted a relief that would adversely affect a party not before it.
Two-third majority
Waving aside Sanusi’s argument that only a two third majority vote by the Senate could remove him from office, the court maintained that the fact that the plaintiff’s appointment was approved by the Senate did not make the National Assembly his employer.
It added that the Senate merely discharged its oversight function in line with the doctrine of separation of powers.
Nevertheless, Justice Kolawole held that Sanusi was able to establish a cause of action against President Jonathan and the Attorney General of the Federation, who were listed as 1st and 2nd defendants, respectively, in the suit.
The court, however, struck out the name of the Inspector General of Police on the premise that there was no cause of action against him.
He ruled: “In the final analysis, this court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter. All employees of the Federal Government can only litigate their matters which relates to employment at the NIC.
He said: “In line with Section 24(3) of the National Industrial Court, Act 2006, I hereby order a transfer of this case to the NIC.
“Therefore, it will be inappropriate for me to deal on the plaintiff’s suit on its merit, as doing so will be prejudicial to both the parties and the NIC. There will be no order as to cost.”
It will be recalled that Sanusi, who was ousted from office on February 20, went to court to challenge the powers of President Jonathan to suspend him on the basis of a report by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, which indicted him of “financial recklessness and misconduct”.
– VANGUARD
Banking
Millions of customers still stranded worldwide 24 hours after GT Bank online operations suffered attacks
By Yemie ADEOYE
GT Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks, with operations across Africa and the United kingdom, and with an asset base of about US$3.11 trillion is under a cyber attack which has left millions of its customers across the world stranded in the last 24 hours.
The bank which was renowned for its seamless online operations at inception has suffered dwindling online efficiency in recent years and this current attack didn’t come as a surprise to many of its numerous customers. However, it is becoming worrisome that over 24 hours after its online operations went down, the bank has not been able to arrest the situation and restore its online services.
Stranded GT Bank customers outside the banks premises
Several customers of the bank took to their X (formerly known as twitter) handles to express their frustrations at the bank, as several of the customers in the diaspora are unable to access their accounts and carry on with their transactions. A customer , Jeff55 who lamented on his X handle about the development, stated that it is a thing of shock that a bank of this size couldn’t afford to have the necessary tools and experts to ensure a full protection of its online operations in this age and time.
Another customer Dimma stated that while Cybersecurity training may seem tedious, the recent #GTBank hack is a stark reminder that everyone is just a click away from a devastating attack.
Several media organisations had reported that hackers have stolen GT Bank website, and intercepted customers Data in massive phishing operation.
At the time of filing this report, Biztellers.com.ng checks on the banks website shows that it is still down and unaccessible, and neither GT Bank media and communications unit nor any of its agencies or surrogates have commented officially on the development.
Says output surge buoyed by reforms he announced in May 2024 to address gaps in PIA
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday declared a resurgence in the oil & gas industry, commending the increased crude production to 1.6 million barrels per day.
The president, who said this in a national broadcast, maintained that the resurgence was buoyed by the reforms he announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Nigeria’s crude oil output got a boost to 1.61 million barrels per day in July 2024 through the president’s directive and the industry leadership provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Acknowledging what he called a resurgence of the once-declining oil and gas industry in his Sunday-morning broadcast to the nation, President Tinubu said that oil investors are coming back to Nigeria.
He said; “Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms I announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act. Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve. Investors are coming back, and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then.
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“Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.
We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for and subsidise its use. To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down.
This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education.
“To this end, we will be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.
“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation.”
Plans are in top gear for the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the FBN Holdings Plc.
The management made this disclosure in a notice it filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, where it averred that it has not been served with any court order against the proposed AGM.
According to notice, which was signed by the acting Company Secretary, Adewale Arogundade, FBN Holding said, “The attention of FBN Holdings Plc (the Company) has been drawn to recent media reports purporting that the Company has received a Court Order stopping it from holding the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for August 15, 2023.
“We confirm that this assertion is a false narrative as the Company has, as at the date hereof, not been served with any court order to stop the forthcoming AGM.
“Suffice to mention that the AGM is a statutory meeting of Shareholders that must be held in accordance with the law, further to which the Company will notify the regulators and the public as appropriate if there is any lawful order to restrain the Company from conducting same.
“We hereby assure our esteemed Shareholders that the AGM shall hold on August 15, 2023, as planned and we look forward to their attendance and active participation at the meeting.”
However, court orders published in national dailies showed that the Federal High Court in Lagos had issued an order against the financial institution, barring it from holding its 11th AGM.
The order was entered pursuant to a petition by Olusegun Onagoruwa, in suit No: FHC/L/CP/1271/2022. It was addressed to the bank and some other bank officials.
It read, “Take notice that unless you obey the directives in the judicial order contained in the order made on July 15, 2022, by the Federal High Court, Lagos, by refraining from proceeding with the 11th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Limited proposed for August 15, 2023, from seeking approval to issue or raise share capital in any manner whatsoever, from appointing or confirming the appointment of new directors, or in any other manner taking any step towards implementing, actualising enforcing resolution of the 10th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Plc held on June 20, 2022, or in any other manner overreaching, disobeying or undermining the said order of a court, you will be guilty of contempt of court and you will be liable to be committed to prison and to there imprisoned.”
Biztellers brought you a report that a segment of shareholders had staged a protest at the headquarters of the bank on Monday, calling for the AGM to be held, as well as soliciting regulatory interventions.
It is expected that at the AGM, FHN Holdings is poised to breathe life into plans to seek shareholders’ approval to raise N150bn fresh capital via a rights issue and elect new directors including billionaire, Femi Otedola and Samson Ariyibi among other resolutions.
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