You lack powers to suspend Ahmed Idris as Nigeria’s Accountant-General — Falana tells Finance Minister
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana has said that the finance minister does not possess the power to suspend Ahmed Idris, former Accountant-General of the Federation over allegations of financial misappropriation of N80 billion naira.
Recall that Ahmed Idris was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, after he allegedly refused to honor its several invitations.
The human rights activist however remarked that section 320 of the constitution and section 11 of the interpretation ACT have given power to only the president to sack the Accountant General of the federation.
He said, “In exercise of his powers under section 171 of the Constitution, President Buhari appointed Idrishmed Idris as the Accountant-General of the Federation on June 25, 2015. Upon the expiration of 4-year tenure, Mr Idris was reappointed as the Accountant-General of the Federation by the President on June 19, 2019.
“It is submitted that by the combined effect of section 320 of the Constitution and section 11 of the Interpretation Act, it is the exclusive constitutional responsibility of President Buhari to suspend Mr Idris as the Accountant-General of the Federation.”
“Specifically, section 11(1) (b) of the Interpretation Act provides that “Where an enactment confers a power to appoint a person either to an office or to exercise any functions, whether for a specified period or not, the power includes the power to remove or suspend him.”
“From the foregoing, it is undoubtedly clear that it is only the President who appointed Mr Idris as the Accountant-General of the Federation and reappointed him to the office that is constitutionally empowered to suspend him or interdict him pending his investigation and prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.”
“I believe that the Minister of Finance knows or ought to know that she lacks the power to suspend Mr Idris from duty since did not appoint or reappoint him as the Accountant-General of the Federation.”
“We are therefore compelled to call on President Buhari to suspend Mr Idris as the Accountant-General of the Federation until further notice under section 11(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act. In the same vein, the President should appoint the Acting Accountant-General of the Federation in line with the law since the Finance Minister lacks the vires to make the appointment,” He said.
