All the 16 local government chairmen in Ekiti state have instituted a suit challenging the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation and the 36 State Governors to approve the Federal Government’s plan to withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account to fight Boko Haram.
The National Economic Council headed by the Vice President and comprising all the state governors and some ministers had approved the FG’s plan on December 15.
But in a suit filed at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Tuesday through their lawyer Ola Olanipekun, the chairmen urged the court to declare the decision illegal.
Maintaining that the approval was invalid unless and it was by means of statutory allocation by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the plaintifs prayed the court to declare, among others, that approval to, “ purportedly execute the constitutional duty of the Federal Government, which has been sufficiently funded from the Federation Account, without their consent, is ultra vires, unlawful, null and void.”
The suit is coming following widespread condemnation of the approval, with many stakeholders including Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti wondering why the Federal Government needed $1 billion to fight an enemy that had been declared “technically defeated”.