Rivers State will not get the October Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC allocations as fall-out of the political skirmish between former governor Nyesome Wike and incumbent governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Rivers is not on list of the States that would be credited with allocations from the N1.14 trillion from the October 2024 Federation Accounts Allocation Revenue to Federal, State, and local government councils.
According to spokesperson of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, who spoke to the Daily Post Friday, Rivers State is not on the list because of a suit stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian government making allocations to Rivers State.
The suit was filed by a factional members of the Rivers State House Assembly led by Matin Amaewhule and their prayer was granted by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on October 30, 2024. The Amaewhule group of assembly members is back by Mr. Wike who is the Federal Capital Territory Minister.
“Federal Government will obey the court order on the matter of Rivers State allocation,” said Bawa Mokwa
“We are going to follow due diligence as long as there is no contrary order. In case there is a contrary, the status will remain.
“The process of disbursement of the October 2024 monthly allocation is going.”.
Meanwhile it was a win for governor Fubara as the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has nullified the Federal High Court judgment that sought to stop the Rivers State Local Government election conducted on October 5, 2024.
The three-man panel of the appellate court, in its judgment, ruled that the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Peter Lifu lacked the subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by the 1st respondent, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Consequently, the Appeal Court set aside the orders issued by the lower court, declaring them invalid due to the lack of jurisdiction.
The Federal High Court had, before the conduct of the local government elections, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to release the voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC.
