The Federal High Court in Abuja set Tuesday March 25 for sentencing in a case brought by the governors of 36 states over the scheme to deduct funds from the federation account to settle a $418 million sentencing debt in connection with reimbursement from the Paris Club.
Inyang Ekwo, the judge, set the verdict date after lawyers for the parties in the matter adopted their final written statements on Tuesday.
The attorneys general of the 36 states (complainants) had sued the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGF), the Federal Accountant General and the Ministry of Finance, among others, for the planned deduction.
Others are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the Incorporated Trustees of the Local Government Association of Nigeria (ALGON), among others.
There are a total of 43 defendants, including judgment creditors, as defendants in the lawsuit filed by governors from 36 states on October 27, 2021.
Mr. Ekwo had last November prevented the federal government from making any deductions from the federation’s account to settle disputed court debts until the court resolves the issues.
Closing arguments of the lawyers
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Sunday Ameh, Senior Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), in his closing submission, argued that the defendants misunderstood the crux of their clients’ claim.
Mr. Ameh disputed the AGF’s argument that the lawsuit challenged existing court rulings in favor of some of the consultants.
“We are not questioning the sentences, we are saying that the way the federal government and its agencies enforce the sentences violates sections 120 and 162 of the (Nigerian) constitution,” Ameh said.
It argued that since the defendants agreed that the contractors were owed in connection with the services they provided, the debt should be paid without deploying funds belonging to the states and local governments.
The plaintiffs’ attorney urged the court to allow the case and grant his client’s sentences.
For their part, the lawyers of the defendants Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Maimuna Lami-Shiru (Interim Director of Civil Litigation, Federal Ministry of Justice) and Olusola Oke (SAN) criticized the competence of the lawsuit and urged the court to dismiss it. .
Mr. Olanipekun, who represented one of the consultants, Ted Iseghohi-Edwards (defendant 14), described the plaintiffs as “meddlesome outsiders,” noting that state governments claimed to be fighting for local councils, a different level of government, without the consent of the third level of government.
He prayed that the court would dismiss the lawsuit as a waste of time and an abuse of the judicial process.
Ms. Lami-Shiru argued that the lawsuit was not only time-barred, but the plaintiffs were also seeking the impossible by asking the court to appeal previous rulings made by it and other courts of coordinated jurisdiction.
The attorney further argued that the federal government’s decision to issue IOUs to the consultants as a way to settle the debt they owed them was legitimate.
He added that the plaintiffs cannot distance themselves from the decision made by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) in hiring some of the consultants.
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Ms. Shiru represented the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGF), the Federal Accountant General (AGoF), the Incorporated Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO), defendants as the first, second, third, fourth defendants and sixth in the suit, marked:
Mr. Oke, who represented Riok Nigeria Limited and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, some of the judgment’s creditors, argued that the claim is without merit and should be dismissed.
Bottom
The debts had been accrued by court rulings that awarded the creditors, who claimed to be “consultants” and “contractors” of the states and local governments, various sums of money that currently amount to $418 million.
Some of the creditors claimed to have earned their share of the money through “consulting services” to help state and local governments recover excess funds deducted by the federal government from their appropriations between 1995 and 2002 to pay off government loans. London Club and the Paris Club. .
PREMIUM TIMES had reported how President Muhammadu Buhari had ignored protests from the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to approve the issuance of notes to creditors.
The promissory notes requested to be issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) will be financed through deductions from the appropriations of the states and local governments for a period of 10 years.
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