The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared Executive Order 10 issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature as illegal.
In a split-decision of four justices against three the apex court held that President Buhari acted beyond his statutory powers and ruled that the responsibility of funding state courts lies solely with the state governments.
President Mohammadu Buhari had in May, 2020 signed into law Executive Order 10 for the enforcement of financial autonomy for State legislature and judiciary, generating a lot of controversies that saw judicial workers embarked on nationwide strike .
37 State governments had in their joint suit applied for an order of the apex court to compel the federal government to pay them the sum of N66 billion being an amount they have so far spent on capital projects for the 3 courts in their respective states.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) represented by Tijani Gazali had strongly opposed the request of the states and urged the court to dismiss it on the ground that while the issue of salary and emoluments of the judges of the courts are expressly stated in the 1999 constitution as the responsibility of the federal government, the section was silent on the capital project.
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In the bid to resolve the constitutional logjam, the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko invited five Senior Advocates of Nigeria as friends of court for their input in resolving the matter.
Three of them Adegboyega Awomolo, Olisa Agbakoba and Sebastine Hon had thrown their weight behind the request of the governors.
While the two others, Mahmud Magaji and Musibawu Adetumbi aligned themselves with the AGF .
In a split decision of six justices to one, the Supreme Court nullified the Executive Order 10 initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari to grant financial autonomy to the State Judiciary and Legislature.
The apex court held that the Executive Order 10 was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional and illegal.
Six justices led by justice Mohammed Dattijo agreed that the contentious Executive Order 10 violated the provisions of the 1999 Constitution while only Justice Uwani Abba-Aji gave endorsement to the Order 10 .
With this ruling by the apex court, the issue of Executive Order has finally been laid to rest.
(Editor, Omor Bazuaye)
