Why Supreme Court Nullifies Buhari’s Executive Order 10

Why Supreme Court Nullifies Buhari’s Executive Order 10

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared Executive Order 10 issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature as illegal.

In a split-decision of four justices against three, the apex court held that President Buhari acted beyond his statutory powers and ruled that the responsibility of funding state courts lies solely with the state governments.

37 State governments had in their joint suit applied for an order of the apex court to compel the federal government to pay them the sum of N66 billion being an amount they have so far spent on capital projects for the 3 courts in their respective states.

In the bid to resolve the constitutional logjam, the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko invited five Senior Advocates of Nigeria as friends of the court for their input in resolving the matter.

Three of them Adegboyega Awomolo, Olisa Agbakoba and Sebastine Hon had thrown their weight behind the request of the governors.

While the two others, Mahmud Magaji and Musibawu Adetumbi aligned themselves with the AGF.

In a split decision of six justices to one, the Supreme Court nullified Executive Order 10 initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari to grant financial autonomy to the State Judiciary and Legislature.

The apex court held that Executive Order 10 was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional and illegal.

Six justices led by justice Mohammed Dattijo agreed that the contentious Executive Order 10 violated the provisions of the 1999 Constitution while only Justice Uwani Abba-Aji gave the endorsement to Order 10.

With this ruling by the apex court, the issue of Executive Order has finally been laid to rest.