By John Ugo
The Supreme Court has declared as unlawful and illegal, the Executive Order 10 (EO10) issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on funding of State Judiciary and Legislature.
The court held that it was not the responsibility of the Federal Government to fund the capital and recurrent expenditures of the superior courts created for states under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
In a split decision by the apex court, the majority of the seven-member panel agreed that the President exceeded his constitutional powers in issuing the EO10.
Six out of the seven members of the panel voided and set aside the EO10.
All the seven members agreed that the states were not entitled to be refunded all they had spent before now to maintain those courts.
The President had signed the Executive Order 10 Into Law which grants financial autonomy to the legislature and the Judiciary of the states in the federation,
The order grants express powers to the Office of the Accountant General to
deduct from source from state allocation to fund the judiciary and the legislature.
On September 27, 2020, the 36 states instituted a suit against the Federal Government seeking a refund of the N66 billion they had spent on funding the state courts.
It was their contention that the Federal Government was responsible for the funding of capital and recurrent expenditure of state courts and should make a refund of their expenditure.
