The Supreme Court has declared as unlawful and unconstitutional, Executive Order 10 (EO10) on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature.
In a split decision on Friday, a majority of the court’s seven-member
panel agreed that the President exceeded his constitutional powers in
issuing the EO10.Six of the seven members of the panel proceeded to
void and set aside the EO10 issued by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The apex court also dismissed the N66 billion suit filed by the state
governors against the Federal Government.
The 36 states governors had in the suit sought an order of the court to
compel the Federal Government to take up funding of capital projects
for State High Courts, Sharia Court of Appeal, and Customary Court of
Appeal.
They had also applied for an order of the apex court to compel the
Federal Government to pay them N66 billion naira, being an amount
they have so far spent on capital projects for the three courts.
The governors informed the apex court that the three courts were the
courts of the Federation and as such, the funding of their capital project
should flow from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed the EO10 into law in May 2020
and set up a committee to fashion out strategies and modalities for the
implementation of financial autonomy for the StateLegislature and State
Judiciary.
