Supreme Court ruling precludes AGF from releasing Funds to Transition Committees- Lawyer

A Nigerian legal practitioner, Ekemini Udim says that the judgement by Supreme Court precludes Accountant-General of the Federation from releasing monthly allocations to Caretaker or Transitions or any other contraption in the country.

The Apex Court’s judgement led by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Thursday ruled that it is unconstitutional for state governors to tamper with the funds of the local government councils.

Already, about 17 states in the country including Akwa Ibom State have reconstituted and inaugurated Caretaker, Transition Committees or Major.

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s judgement of Thursday in a telephone interview with journalists, Mr. Udim who is also a radio public affairs analyst said ‘‘You will remember that what we saw was what was filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The legal practitioner said, ‘‘The AGF had urged the Supreme Court to declare any contraption in the name of Caretaker, Transition Committee, illegal. By this judgement, it is likely that the Supreme Court has upheld that the Caretaker Committees are illegal.

‘‘If that is the case, it means that the Accountant-General of the Federation is, by this judgement, precluded from releasing funds of any local government council that the Chairman was not democratically elected by the people; for example, Transition, Caretaker or Major as it is called in Abia State or by whatever contraption to the people manning that tier government as of today.

“It means that they are illegal and it means that the Accountant-General of the Federation cannot disobey the Supreme Court by paying money to people who are occupying offices illegally. The Accountant-General will only pay money to those who were duly elected to man local government councils in the country. Anything outside that will means that someone is trying to sit on the head of Supreme Court and this could be catastrophic.’’