Rep Sues President Buhari Over N713.7 Billion Bail-Out For States

Posted by George on Thu 16th Jul, 2015 - tori.ng

A member of the House of Representatives has filed a law suit against President Muhammadu Buhari in an Abuja Federal High Court over his decision to rescue states in the country with a bailout of N713.7bn.

As state governments in Nigeria celebrate the imminent bail out fund of N713.7 billion to be released by the Federal Government, events have taken a dramatic turn as one Mr. Igariwey Iduma-Enwo, a member of the House of Representatives yesterday, wednesday the 15th of July filed a law suit against President Muhammadu Buhari in an Abuja Federal High Court over his decision to rescue states in the country with a bailout of N713.7bn.

In a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1022/15, which the Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker from Ebonyi State filed on Wednesday, Iduma-Enwo is seeking to know whether Buhari has powers under the 1999 Constitution to give the bailout without the approval of the National Assembly.

On the list of the defendants in the suit are the President; Attorney-General of the Federation; Federal Ministry of Finance; Accountant-General of the Federation; Auditor-General of the Federation; and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Part of the originating summons read,

“Whether having regards to the combined effect of sections 192, 163, 164 and 168 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which prescribes the way and manner public revenue shall be distributed from the distribution pool account, the 1st defendant (Buhari) can by itself or by way of fiat, issue lawful directives to the 3rd-6th defendants to appropriate, distribute, allocate and disburse public revenue from the distributable pool account to the federal, state and local governments without the prescription of the National Assembly.”

The plaintiff is asking the court to declare the action of the President and his co-defendants “unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful, null and void.”

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit in court and this could stall the release of the bail-out funds to the state and local governments in Nigeria. This will come as a bad news to the state civil servants who are already anticipating payment of their salaries running into several months.