Supreme Court Strikes Out NGF Suit
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has struck out a suit filed by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) comprising governors of the 36 states of the federation, against the Nigerian government, challenging the alleged diversion of N1.8trillion in recovered assets.
Delivering the lead judgment prepared by Justice Chidiebere Uwa, on Friday, Justice Mohammed Idris declared that the apex court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
“The suit was wrongly instituted by the plaintiffs before the apex court,” the court ruled, striking the suit out.
The governors, through the suit marked SC/CV/395/2021, had accused the Nigerian government of failing to remit assets recovered between 2015 and 2021 into the Federation Account as constitutionally required.
They claimed the Nigerian government diverted a total of N1,836,906,543,658.73 in recovered funds, including cash, 167 properties, 450 vehicles, 300 trucks and cargoes, and 20 million barrels of crude oil, into the Consolidated Revenue Account and other non-recognized accounts.
Instead of following constitutional provisions, the states alleged, the Nigerian government diverted the funds to accounts such as the Asset Recovery Account and the Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account.
They argued that this move violated sections 162(1), 162(10), and 80 of the Constitution, as well as section 2 of the Finance (Control and Management) Act of 1958.
According to the plaintiffs, “it is unconstitutional to divert funds payable into the Federation Account to the CRA or any other account, or to use such revenue for any purpose other than those outlined in the Constitution.”
They insisted that all proceeds from confiscated or recovered assets should be treated as revenue of the Federal Republic and must be shared among federal, state, and local governments.
They further demanded an order for the remittance of the N1.8 trillion in recovered cash and N450 billion in non-cash assets into the Federation Account.
Additionally, they called for a detailed public account of all unremitted assets and urged the court to compel the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to design a distribution framework for such recoveries.
However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision by its seven-member panel, determined that the subject matter fell under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, not the apex court.
As a result, the case was struck out for lack of jurisdiction.
With the decision of the apex court, the legal avenue pursued by the state governors to challenge the Nigerian government’s asset recovery practices has come to a close, at least at the Supreme Court level.
