The federal government through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has announced that Rivers State will no longer receive its monthly funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The announcement came on day the court of Appeal heard five separate appeals challenging the decision of Federal High Court Abuja of October 30, 2024 that barred Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN , Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Zenith Bank and Access Bank from releasing monthly allocations to Rivers.
In the said judgement delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, she specifically ordered the CBN, Accountant-General of the Federation, Zenith Bank, and Access Bank to deny Gov. Fubara access to funds from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
The Federal High court also directed that Governor Fubara must submit the state’s budget to a lawfully recognized House of Assembly before any funds could be released.
Spokesperson for the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation Bawa Mokwa on Friday told journalists the office will no longer release funds accruing to Rivers to the government of Rivers State.
This is in compliance with court order, he said , arising from the political situation in Rivers State.He also clarified that, while no state has yet received its FAAC revenue for October 2024, the federal government would comply with the court’s directive regarding Rivers State.
“The October 2024 FAAC has not been distributed yet. However, the Federal Government will obey the court order on the matter of Rivers State allocation,” Mokwa said.
FAAC announcement came in a day the Court of Appeal heard the five separate appeals that arose from the lower court decision,
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara at the hearing prayed the Court of Appeal to set-aside the judgment that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing monthly allocations to Rivers .
The governor, through his counsel Yusuf Ali, SAN, prayed a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Hamma Barka, to vacate the high court order which he said was issued in bad faith.
He urged the appellate court to allow his appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1303/2024, and nullify adverse orders that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court made against the state in the judgment she delivered on Oct. 30.
Fubara’s plea came after the Justice Barka-led panel consolidated five other appeals that arose from the said judgment of the high court.
The appeals were marked as: CA/ABJ/CV/1277/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1196/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1287/24, CA/ABJ/CV/1293/24 and CA/ABJ/CV/1360/2024.
Aside Fubara, other appellants in the matter are the Rivers State Government, the Accountant-General of Rivers State and Zenith Bank Plc.
Counsel to the Respondents JB Daudu SAN urged the Court to dismiss the appeals.and affirm the judgement of the lower court.
The court of Appeal reserved judgement on the appeals to a date that would be communicated to the parties.