The OAGF will adhere to court orders regarding the disbursement of federal allocations to Rivers State.”
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation says it will go ahead to pay monthly allocation to Rivers State despite a Federal High Court ruling on October 30, 2024, which directed the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) to withhold further monthly allocations to Rivers State.
According to a report by the PUNCH, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, explained that this is due to an appeal by the Rivers State Government which is yet to be decided.
He, however, assured that the OAGF will adhere to court orders regarding the disbursement of federal allocations to Rivers State.
Mokwa, said, “We are going to obey court order.
“Since there is a notice of appeal, the notice of appeal has overridden the earlier court judgment. So far, it is a court order that we will obey; if there is a notice of appeal, Rivers will be paid.”
The court had ruled that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to a four-member House of Assembly was unconstitutional.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who delivered the judgment, stated that since January 2024, allocations received and spent by the state were based on an illegitimate budget, describing it as a “constitutional aberration.”
The ruling raised questions over the legitimacy of the State House of Assembly’s composition and its authority to approve budgets, noting that the governor’s actions ignored constitutional requirements for budget approval by a fully constituted House of Assembly.