The Nigerian government has confirmed that it has stopped the October monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC revenue payment to Rivers State amid the ongoing face-off between Governor Simi Fubara and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesome Wike.
The Spokesperson of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, disclosed this exclusively to DAILY POST on Friday.
This comes as the Nigerian Government on Wednesday announced the approval for the disbursement of N1.1411 trillion as the October 2024 Federation Accounts Allocation Revenue to Federal, State, and local government councils.
However, a report emerged that FAAC revenue in October was not disbursed to Rivers State following a court stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian government from carrying out such action.
Reacting to the development, Mokwa said the OAGF as a government agency will respect the court order.
Meanwhile, he stated that the October monthly FAAC revenue has not been disbursed to respective states as of filing the report.
“What I got is that the October 2024 FAAC has not been distributed yet. However, the Federal Government will obey the court order on the matter of Rivers State allocation.
“We are going to follow due diligence as long as there is no contrary order. In case there is a contrary, the status will remain,” he told DAILY POST.
He added, “The process of disbursement of the October 2024 monthly allocation is going.”.
Recall that on October 30, this year, Justice Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court barred CBN and the Nigerian government from disbursing monthly allocations to the Rivers State government.
This comes after an originating summons filed by the factional Rivers State Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule.
The Amaewhule case was based on the grounds that the Rivers State Executive, under the leadership of Simi Fubara, was yet to comply with the order of a Federal High Court directing it to re-present the 2024 appropriation bill to the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In the past month, the Amaewhule faction, backed by Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, had been in a political battle with Fubara.
Recall that upon the emergence of Fubara as governor, he fell apart with his predecessor, Wike, which had led to a month-long crisis in the oil-rich state.
BREAKING: Wike vs Fubara: Nigerian government stops October FAAC revenue to Rivers State