The Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to direct the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to continue payment of monthly allocations to Rivers State local governments.
ALDRAP made the appeal in a letter forwarded to the President by the association’s Secretary, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja.
The development followed Wednesday’s judgment by an Abuja Federal High Court, which barred the Federal Government from releasing further monthly allocations to Rivers State.
The court, presided by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from allowing Rivers State to draw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Account.
The judgment was delivered in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24, filed by the Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly, over the presentation of the state’s 2024 budget to a four-member faction of the Assembly by Governor Sim Fubara.
The court faulted the presentation of the 2024 budget before the four-member Assembly faction, describing it as an affront to the Constitution.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and the Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, are the defendants in the suit.
In a quick response to the judgment, ALDRAP, in the letter to the President, noted that the ruling does not apply to local government councils in Rivers State.
The association insisted that since the judgment applied only to the state government, the local councils should continue receiving their monthly allocations.
The letter, dated October 30, 2024, is tilted, ‘Request For Urgent Intervention To Prevent The Withholding Of Monthly Allocation To Local Government Areas (LGAs) Of Rivers State Of Nigeria’.
Parts of the letter read, “We write to request your urgent intervention in the above named subject matter.
“We write to urge your intervention because the judgment applies only to the monthly allocation to Rivers State Government itself and not to the monthly allocations for the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) councils of Rivers State which have recently been granted financial autonomy by virtue of the Supreme Court of Nigeria judgment in July 2024.
“This is sequel to the judgment delivered today by the Hon. Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja.”
Reacting to the judgment in a chat with Newspot, Hakeem Ambali, President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, described the political crisis in Rivers State as unfortunate, noting that it could derail the development of the state.
Ambali suggested that the Rivers State government, due to the state’s huge revenue capacity, would not be severely affected by the effects of the judgment.
He however noted that the Supreme Court had, during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, rejected attempts to stop the allocations of a state government.
The NULGE leader said, “It is unfortunate that the political crisis in Rivers State has dovetailed to this very precarious situation. However, this is not the first time there has been an attempt to stop allocations to states and local governments. I remember during Obasanjo government something like that happened because of the creation of LCDAs.
“A state that generates internal revenue will have a way around it and I know Rivers State has the capacity to generate IGR that will be enough to meet its daily obligations. That court is not a court of finality, the judgement will have to be appealed.
“But I also want to appeal to the political gladiators on Rivers State to sheathe their swords. It is surprising that they are from the same party. It shows a mismanagement of political gain by all the political gladiators and when elephants fight, it is the ground that suffers.
“Governor Fubara and Wike should sheathe their swords – this crisis will lead to nowhere, it will only retard the development of Rivers State. They should not play politics with the people and governance of Rivers State.”
It would be recalled that, in 2004, in a suit filed by the Lagos State Government to challenge the Federal Government’s decision to withhold the state’s allocation due to the creation of Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Lagos State, declaring the Federal Government’s action unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court verdict was delivered by then Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Muhammadu Uwais.
President Bola Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State at the time.
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