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The Supreme Court expressed a case from the governments of the 36 States and from the Nigeria Governors forum (NGF) who challenge the application by the federal government of the recovered funds.
Cronging the judgment, a panel of seven members unanimously declared that the case had been erroneously established before the apical court.
In the main judgment, prepared by the judge Chidiebere Uwa, but read by judge Mohammed Idris, the court Apex believed that the complaints erroneously invoke its jurisdiction.
The Court Apex considered that the subject of the case falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court.
The lawsuit had stated that “between 2015 and 2021 when the cause had been presented, the FG obtained an international and municipal decline, the recovery and repatriation of” stolen activities “in the sum of Ni, 836,906,543,658.73, about 167 properties, 450 load and load and 20,000 Bari million”, which presumably has not managed to refer as required by the Constitution.
Instead, they said that instead of paying the money in the Federation account, the FG defined it illegally in the accounts of the consolidated revenues (CRA) and in other accounts not recognized by the Nigerian Constitution.
States have argued that CRA is the account in which the share of FG from the Federation account are paid, other federal gains and funds belonging to specific state governments.
They added that other federal earnings payable to the CRAs include the revenue of federal government licenses and land revenues, administrative expenses, profits and sales, the rent owned by the government, the interests of the investments of the federal government, the reimbursements of state governments, the personal income tax of the armed forces and others.
The lawsuit said that by establishing the recovery account of the activities and the recovery account of the provisional confiscation, in which the revenues from recovered activities were to be paid, the regulation for recovery of the activities contradicts the provisions of the Constitution.
They noted that since 2015, “numerous recoveries of activities acquired illegally have been guaranteed through anti-corruption and contrast agencies”, including the Commission for economic and financial crimes (EFCC), independent corrupt practices and other relative crimes (ICPC), the Nigerian police and the office of the general prosecutor of the Federation.
Citing the sections 162 (1), 162 (10) and 80 of the Constitution and Section 2 of the financial law (control and management), 1958, the complaints claimed that the recovered funds qualified as revenue paid to the account of the Federation instead of the consolidated revenue of the federal government.
They declared that “it is unconstitutional to put back or deviate the revenue payable in the account of the Federation to the consolidated revenue of the federal government or any other account or apply the revenue to any other purpose”, have supported the complaints.
The lawsuit prayed to the Court, among others, to declare: “that, according to the provisions of section 162 (1) and section 162 (10) of the establishment of all income, returns, proceeds or receipts of any time described by the Federation and/or recovered account, must be returned to the Federation account for the Federation account and the beneficial federations.
They urged the Court to issue an advertising order that forces the remittance of n1.8 trillions (cash) and N450 billion (non -coins) in the booty recovered since 2015 in the Federation account.
The lawsuit also asked the Court of forcing the defendants to provide a detailed report of the recovered activities that were not remitted in the Federation account by the President, as well as all the officials and government agencies concerned.
They also want that the Supreme Court force the FG, through the mobilization of the revenue and the tax commission (RMFAC), plan the methods for the distribution of activities recovered between the federal units. [Channels TV]
