The Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has explained why the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) challenged the Executive Order 10 in court to prevent arbitrary removal of state funds.
The Executive Order 10 gives the Accountant-General of the Federation the power to deduct funds for the state legislature and the judiciary from allocations to the states.
The Supreme Court on February 11 nullified the Order following a suit filed by the 36 State governors.
Speaking on a television programme, Fayemi noted that the governors are still committed to financial autonomy to state judiciaries and legislatures despite the Supreme Court’s judgement.
He stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari was wrongly advised by his officials on the matter.
The governor said: “Let me state upfront that governors are committed to the agreement we reached with the representatives of the legislature and the judiciary, in the presence of the honourable minister of labour and employment, that the memorandum of understanding we reached is sacrosanct.
“We are not changing our position on that. Virtually, all state governments have incorporated this in the 2022 budget.
“Autonomy is on course. There is no running away from that in principle position that the NGF and my other governors have taken in all the states.
“However, we were after a principle — this is a democracy that is founded on the rule of law and on extant position of the constitution.
“The constitution has already stipulated clearly how the notion of judicial and legislative autonomy should be addressed.
“We felt that Mr President was misadvised by his officials who asked him to go for Executive Order 10.
“We said as much to Mr. President and he was gracious enough to ask that our position be considered when he asked the chief of staff to set up a meeting between myself, my vice-chairman, as well as the honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and federal minister of finance.
“At that meeting, we stated this position that we were only going to court to ensure that this does not become a precedent in which the federal government can go into the federation account and remove funds belonging to the state in an arbitrary manner.
“That is the principle we are after. We are not after stopping our commitment to judicial autonomy and our discussion and agreement with the conference of speakers and the national judicial council.”
