The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has halted payment of federal allocations to the Rivers State Government in compliance with a court judgement, just as the Court of Appeal in Abuja heard the appeal challenging the verdict on Friday.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Hamma Barka, on Friday, reserved judgement on the state government’s appeal against a lower court’s decision stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing the South-south state’s monthly allocations.
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the state government had filed the appeal to challenge the 30 October judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In the now disputed verdict, the Federal High Court judge, Joyce AbdulMalik, described the disbursement of monthly allocations to the state since January as a clear constitutional breach that must not be tolerated.
The judge subsequently barred the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, the…