Kano Court Stops Withholding Of LG Funds

A Kano State High Court has issued an order restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from withholding funds from the Federation Account due to the state’s 44 Local government areas.

This followed a suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) party seeking the court to stop the disbursement of LG funds, citing alleged irregularities in the state’s last October LG elections.

The applicants are the Chairman of NULGE, Ibrahim Muhd, Ibrahim Shehu, Ibrahim Abubakar, Usman Isa, Sarki Alhaji Kurawa, and Malam Usman Imam. At the same time, the respondents include the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), CBN, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the 44 Kano Local Governments, UBA, Access, and six other commercial banks.

Delivering the judgement on Monday, Justice Ibrahim Musa-Muhammad held that the applicants had established their case and the federal government agencies are obliged to disburse their monthly allocations as those elected were democratically elected.

He explained that withholding their allocation would amount to a breach of the fundamental rights of the residents of all 44 LGAs, making reference to sections 33, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Articles 13,19, 22, and 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

Earlier, in his submission, counsel to the applicants, Mr. Yusuf Muhammad urged the court to discountenance the respondents’ counter affidavit and grant the applicants relief while counsels to the CBN, Ganiyu Ajape, urged the court to strike out CBN in the suit for lacking jurisdiction to entertain the matter; while UBA, Keystone and GT bank’s counsels requested the court to strike out their clients names, noting that they have no role in the disbursement of the funds.