Supreme Court declares Executive Order 10 issued by President Buhari unlawful, dismisses Governors N66bn suit

The Supreme Court has declared as unlawful and unconstitutional the Executive Order 10 (EO10) issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature.

President Buhari had in the Executive Order he signed on May 22, 2020, made it mandatory for all states to include allocations of both the Legislature and the Judiciary in their Appropriation Laws, in compliance with section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended).

However in the suit marked SC/655/2020, which was filed on September 17, 2020, the 36 States, through their Attorneys-General, queried the legality of the Presidential Executive Order 10.

Insisting that President Buhari, by virtue of the said Executive Order, pushed the federal government’s responsibility of funding both the capital and recurrent expenditures of the state high courts, Sharia Court of Appeal, and the Customary Court of Appeal, to the State governments, the state Attorney-Generals also told the apex court that it was a clear violation of sections 6 and 8(3) of 1999 Constitution, which made it the responsibility of the federal government to fund the listed courts.

The order was voided after six out of seven members of the panel agreed that the President Buhari acted out of his constitutional powers in issuing the EO 10.

The N66 billion suit filed by state governors against the Federal Government was also dismissed by the apex court. The Supreme court ruled that states were not entitled to be refunded all they have spent before now to maintain those courts.