Politics
…Cites Supreme Court Precedent As Contradiction
CHIDI Odinkalu, a prominent Nigerian human rights activist, criticized a decision by the Federal High Court to withhold the Federation Account allocations of Rivers State.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Odinkalu pointed out that 20 years ago, during the tenure of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the governor of Lagos State, the Supreme Court of Nigeria had declined a similar application.
Odinkalu argued that the Federal High Court’s decision to overrule the Supreme Court is not an example of the rule of law but rather a “tyranny of the outlaw.” He referred to a case from December 10, 2004, when the Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered by then-Chief Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, ruled on a matter between the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Attorney-General of the Federation. However, the details of the 2004 case were not provided in Odinkalu’s post.
TheNigerialawyer recalls that on Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria from further releasing monthly financial allocations to the Rivers State Government. The presiding judge held that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Governor Siminalayi Fubara before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the constitutional provision.
Justice Abdulmalik described the receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January this year by Fubara as a constitutional somersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue. She also held that Fubara’s action in implementing an unlawful budget smacked of gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.
Consequently, the judge restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank, and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
Text excluding headline from thenigerianlawyer.com
A.I
Oct. 31, 2024
Tags: Chidi Odinkalu
