THE Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) says it will obey court orders regarding the disbursement of federal allocations (FAAC) to Rivers State.
This development comes on the heels of recent legal disputes over the state’s financial entitlement from the federal government.
In a telephone chat with The ICIR on Saturday, November 23, the director of press and public relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, said the office will adhere to court orders that originate on the matter.
“Is there notification of appeal or an addition? Are we not going to obey it?” Mokwa asked.
He explained that if received, the notice of appeal supersedes the initial court judgment. As a result, the current court order will be obeyed.
The ICIR reported that the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, formally appealed a federal High court ruling that halted the monthly FAAC disbursement to the state.
The governor, through his counsel, Yusuf Ali, a senior advocate, requested the Court of Appeal to vacate the October 30 judgment by Joyce Abdulmalik, a judge of the Federal High Court, which barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing funds to the state government.
The appeal, marked CA/ABJ/CV/1303/2024, was filed before a three-member panel of justices, led by Hamma Barka.
Fubara’s appeal followed a ruling in which the court had restrained the CBN from allowing Rivers State to access its share of the federation account.
This judgment was delivered in response to a lawsuit filed by the factional leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martins Amaewhule, which accused the state executive of failing to comply with a court order related to the re-presentation of the state’s 2024 appropriation bill.
The presiding judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling on Wednesday, October 30, ruled that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara to four members of the state House of Assembly was an aberration and an affront to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution (as amended).
According to the judge, Fubara’s receipt and distribution of monthly allocations since January 2024 was illegal.
She directed Zenith Bank, Access Bank, the CBN, and the accountant general of the federation to stop Fubara from getting access to funds from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
However, in his appeal, Fubara contended that the Federal High Court’s decision was issued without proper consideration and called for the reversal of the order.
The governor also sought to nullify the directive by Abdulmalik on October 30, which included the prohibition on disbursing funds from the federation account to the state.
The move to halt the monthly allocation in Rivers State came amid a broader political rift between Fubara and his predecessor and minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Both leaders have been at loggerheads over who controls the PDP structure in the state since 2023. President Tinubu’s efforts to resolve the stalemate has so far yielded no result.
A reporter with the ICIR
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