Court CBN Allocations Rivers
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Monday, overturned a Federal High Court decision that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing monthly statutory allocations to Rivers State.
The appellate court, in a split decision of two-to-one, ruled that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit that led to the restraining order.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the court noted that the involvement of federal agencies in the case was not enough to grant the Federal High Court jurisdiction over a matter involving a state’s budget appropriation.
Justice Hamma Barka, leading the panel, emphasized that since the case involved state budget appropriation, the Federal High Court in Abuja was not the appropriate venue. The court therefore upheld six appeals filed by the aggrieved parties, including Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Rivers State Government, the Accountant-General of Rivers State, and Zenith Bank Plc, all of whom sought to overturn the earlier ruling.
In her dissenting judgment, Justice Adebukola Banjoko affirmed the high court’s order. The appeals, marked CA/ABJ/CV/1277/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1196/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1287/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1293/24, and CA/ABJ/CV/1360/2024, stemmed from the Federal High Court’s ruling, which had restricted the CBN from disbursing funds to Rivers State following a suit filed by the factional Rivers State House of Assembly led by Hon. Martins Amaewhule.
Governor Fubara, through his legal team led by Mr. Yusuf Ali SAN, argued that the high court’s restraining order was issued in bad faith and urged the appellate court to nullify it.
Court CBN Allocations Rivers
The Amaewhule faction, supported by their counsel, Mr. J.B. Daudu SAN, sought to affirm the high court’s judgment, claiming that the governor’s refusal to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill before the faction had led to the fiscal dispute.
The Rivers State government maintained that the Amaewhule-led faction was no longer recognized after defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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