2 hours ago
2
The office of the accountant-general of the Federation (OAGF) has pledged to release financial allocations to Rivers State following an appeal by the state government.
This was disclosed by Bawa Mokwa, director of press and public relations at the OAGF on Saturday, November 23, 2024.
This is coming barely 24 hours after Mokwa said the OAGF had withheld October payments to the oil-rich state in compliance with a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court judgement on October 30, 2024.
Recall that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withhold further Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) payment to the Rivers State government following a lawsuit by the lawsuit by the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State Assembly.
Fubara appeals judgement
However, in the appeal filed by the Rivers government on Friday, Governor Siminalyi Fubara prayed to the appellate court to set aside the lower court's judgement, which he said was issued in bad faith.
The Governor also sought a stay of execution and return to the status quo, which was granted by the appeal court.
Following the latest twist, Mokwa said the OAGF would abide by the decision of the appeal court which overrides the previous order.
“We are going to obey court orders. Yesterday, after a report that the state would not be paid, the Rivers state government sent a notification of appeal to that effect.
“So, logically, we are going to obey court orders. The notification depicts that there is a stay of execution, which means we will maintain the status quo. It means the state will be given allocation,” he said.
