A legal practitioner and Executive Director of Human Rights and Accountability Initiative, Mr. Peter Odia, has sued the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi for the donation of N125m to victims of bomb blasts in Kano and St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State.
The plaintiff wants the the Federal High Court, Abuja to declare that the defendants’ action of making the N100m donation to the Kano State Government and N25m to St. Theresa’s Catholic Church contravenes the CBN Act and is therefore illegal.
Odia also wants the court to declare that the donation “is misappropriation/misapplication of public funds, illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional”.
According to him, by virtue of Section 6 of the National Emergency Management Agency (Establishment) Act 2004, the action of the 1st and 2nd defendants “is a usurpation/assumption of the responsibility and functions of NEMA and therefore unlawful, null and void”.
Odia added, “By virtue of the CBN (Establishment) Act 2007, and the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the 2nd defendant, being an agency of government, is not empowered to make donations in exercise of corporate social responsibility.
“The objective of the 1st and 2nd defendants as clearly defined in the Act establishing it does not include making such voluntary donations, nor does it give powers to the CBN Board to create any special fund to give donations.
“It is also clearly stated in section 80 (3) and (4) of the 2009 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on how public funds are to be appropriated and expended.”
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