The Supreme Court has struck out a suit filed by the 36 state governments and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), challenging the Federal Government’s handling of recovered looted funds.
Delivering judgment on Friday, a seven-member panel of the apex court held unanimously that the case was wrongly instituted before the Supreme Court.
In the lead judgment written by Justice Chidiebere Uwa and read by Justice Mohammed Idris, the apex court held that the plaintiffs lacked the legal basis to invoke the court’s original jurisdiction.
The apex court further maintained that the proper venue for the suit was the Federal High Court, not the Supreme Court.
The suit, marked SC/CV/395/2021, was filed to challenge the alleged failure of the Federal Government to remit recovered funds into the Federation Account.
According to the plaintiffs, between 2015 and 2021, the Federal Government recovered looted assets amounting to N1.836 trillion in cash, along with 167 properties, 450 cars, 300 trucks and cargoes, and 20 million barrels of crude oil worth over N450 billion.
They claimed that instead of depositing the recovered assets into the Federation Account as required by the Constitution, the Federal Government diverted them into the Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) and other accounts not recognised by law.
The states argued that under the 1999 Constitution, funds in the Federation Account must be shared among the federal, state, and local governments.
They also noted that the CRA is meant only for the federal government’s share of national revenues and other federal receipts, such as earnings from land use, administrative charges, and taxes paid by the Armed Forces.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs faulted the creation of special accounts like the Asset Recovery Account and the Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account, insisting that such arrangements violate constitutional provisions and the Finance (Control and Management) Act of 1958.
They urged the court to declare that all proceeds from forfeited and recovered assets, regardless of their form, constitute revenue and should be remitted to the Federation Account for distribution.
The 36 governors also prayed for an order directing the Federal Government to remit the N1.8 trillion cash and N450 billion worth of non-cash assets allegedly recovered since 2015.
Additionally, the plaintiffs asked the court to compel the Federal Government to provide a full account of all recovered assets not remitted to the Federation Account.
They also sought an order mandating the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to develop a framework for distributing recovered assets among the three tiers of government.
, challenging the Federal){kind=link}