- Dismisses Governors Suit on Funding of State High Courts
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, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has reported.
In a split decision on Friday, majority of the court’s seven-member panel agreed that the President exceeded his constitutional powers in issuing the EO10.
The judgment was on the suit filed by the 36 states against the federal government on the funding of the judiciary and the constitutionality of the EO10.
Six out of the seven members of the panel proceeded to void and set aside the EO10. The majority decision also held that it was not the responsibility of the federal government to fund the capital and recurrent expenditures of the courts created for states under Section six of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court also on Friday in a split-decision of four justices against three held that the responsibility of funding state courts lies squarely with the state governments.
The Supreme Court therefore dismissed the suit filed by the Attorneys-General of the 36 states of the federation, in which they sought the funding of state judiciaries by the federal government.
In the suit which challenged the widely accepted norm that states are to fund their courts, the plaintiffs argued that it is the constitutional duty of the federal government to fund the capital and recurrent expenditures of states’ high courts, as well as their sharia and customary courts of appeal.
The Supreme Court however held that the responsibility of funding state courts lies squarely with the state governments.
