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An activist lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has filed a law suit President Muhammadu Buhari. And what was the president's perceived offence? It has to do with the appointment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) board by the President without seeking the opinion of the senate on the matter, which is the normal procedure as allowed by the law before such appointment could be made. Adegboruwa said that the August 19 appointments of AMCON board by the President were all blatant violation of the relevant statute setting up the agency and he asked the court to upturn the appointment to allow due process to be followed in the new appointment procedure.

Adegboruwa based his argument on Section 10(1) (C) of the AMCON Act 2010 which provides that the board, consisting of three executive directors nominated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in consultation with the Minister of Finance, must be appointed subject to Senate confirmation. He is however seeking a declaration that the President cannot appoint anyone as Executive Director of AMCON without complying with Section 10(1)C of the AMCON Act 2010.

The lawyer is however asking for an order “nullifying, annulling, voiding, cancelling and invalidating the appointment of the Executive Directors of AMCON made by the President.” He also wants to obtain an order of perpetual injunction restraining the persons purportedly appointed by the President from functioning or further parading themselves as AMCON’s Executive Directors pending the time the court rules on the issue.

This is not the first time Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa would file a suit against the president. About a month ago, the activist lawyer urged the federal high court in Lagos to force president Muhammadu Buhari to appoint his ministers or resign as president. The lawyer prayed the court to determine whether or not by the virtue of section 147(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, the president is not obliged to appoint ministers upon his swearing in and oath of office since May 29.

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is not alone in the legal battle against the president regarding his ministerial appointment. Another lawyer, Sunny Akanni, from Kaduna state, also threatened to drag President Muhammadu Buhari to court if he failed to appoint ministers from each of the 36 states of the federation. The lawyer stressed that it would be a gross violation of the Nigerian constitution if the president failed to appoint ministers to represent each state.

His words: “I have heard speculations that the president wants to reduce the number of ministers to be appointed to save cost of governance. That is a very good step and I commend him for that, but in taking such step, he has to be conscious of the provisions of the Constitution as well. “Section 147 of the Constitution said the president shall appoint at least one minister from each state of the federation, who shall be indigene of such state.

However, Olisa Agbakoba, the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, has recently stated that Nigeria would not be able to afford the cost of having 36 ministers. He suggested that the appointment of ministers should be on a zonal basis from the six geopolitical zones of the country.