AMINU Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto State and executive vice-chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, has described Executive Order 10 by President Muhammadu Buhari on the financial autonomy of State legislature and judiciary as sheer illegality. The Executive Order was issued in 2020.
Tambuwal made this known on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State at the colloquium organized in honor of Ayodeji Daramola, retiring chief judge of the State by the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice Academy. He said that the president was ill-advised on the issue.
In his presentation entitled: “The Judicial Autonomy: Perspective of the Nigerian Governor Forum”, Tambuwal said that the Forum expected President Buhari to have consulted widely before issuing the order, adding that exercising such powers unilaterally was “sheer illegality”.
According to him, “Nigeria in Section 121(3) provides that: “Any amount standing to the credit of the – (a)House of Assembly of the State; and (b) Judiciary In the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of the judiciary, such amount shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.”
“As Governors of the 36 States under the platform of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), let me state very clearly that we are unequivocally committed to the autonomy of the judiciary and the legislature.
“The recent misunderstanding on the financial autonomy of the judiciary is predicated on the need to establish an implementation framework to the 4th Alteration of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Section 121(3). What we have questioned, and we have made this known at every opportunity, is the process of implementing this provision of the Constitution.
“As Governors, we will be failing in our responsibility if we refuse to draw the attention of the President, stakeholders and the country to grave concerns about the constitutionality of Executive Order 10 of 2020. That was the basis of the position that we took on Executive Order 10.
“The Executive Order 10 ostensibly intended to support the implementation of judicial financial autonomy, was completely unnecessary and ill-advised. Let me at this juncture state clearly that we never questioned the right of Mr. President to issue Executive Orders. We only stated that Section 121(3) did not require Presidential Executive Fiat to become implementable.
Stating that a consensus has finally been reached on the autonomy conundrum, Tambuwal expressed hope that the strike action by workers in the judiciary will soon be called off.
“The agreement allows a period of 45 days for implementation structures to be put in place across States including the enactment of a Fund Management Law which will grant the Judiciary the power to manage its capital and recurrent expenditures in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.
“Budgetary releases to the judiciary will be pro-rated based on the actual revenues recorded each month by the State government. Monthly revenue reconciliation and allocation will be presided over by a State Account Allocation Committee (SAAC) to be set up under the Fund Management Law – a similar practice to what we have at the federal level.
“We hope that this will put an end to the long weeks of strike action that have seen our judicial and criminal justice system grounded to a halt. We have lost so much in the past weeks. The big takeaway is the centrality of communication, sincerity, trust, and dialogue.
“We have requested that the President disbands the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Autonomy of State Legislature and Judiciary, to avert future rancor between the various arms of government, arising from misconceived guidance from a committee lacking the requisite understanding of constitutional matters.”
On his part, Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State, also described Executive Order 10 as unconstitutional, illegal as it undermined the executive power of the governors stipulated in the 1999 Constitution.
Stressing that State governors are committed to financial autonomy for the legislature and judiciary, the president of the Nigerian Governors Forum, added that ‘democracy can’t endure if we subject the independence of these two arms to the jackboots of the governors.
Reacting, Daramola said judicial autonomy was essential ingredients for democratic consolidation, adding the governors should simply respect it as it was adequately guaranteed in section 121 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.
