Deductions from allocation: Court throws out suit against governors

A  Federal High Court  presided over by Justice Adamu Bello has struck out a suit seeking to stop the 36 state governors and the FCT minister from deducting monies from statutory allocation as security votes.

Bello threw out the suit on Tuesday while delivering judgment in a case filed by Chief Nkereuwem Akpan, against the governors and the FCT minister in 2010.

Akpan, who is a constitutional lawyer,  had approached the court seeking  the court to determine, by virtue of sections 16(2) and 120 of the 1999 Constitution Cap C 23, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, if the governors had the right to make such deductions.

In his judgment, Bello held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

He said that the governors and the minister of the FCT were neither the Federal Government nor its agencies and the court had no authority to determine the case.

He held that if the defendants were the Federal Government or its agencies, the court could entertain the case.

'Though the plaintiff has the locus standi to institute the case against the defendants, the court can only entertain a suit involving the Federal Government and its agencies,'' Bello said. He said that the suit involved state governors and the minister of FCT which had their own jurisdictions.