A Kano State Excessive Court docket on Wednesday reserved ruling in a go well with filed by the Nationwide Union of Native Authorities Staff (NULGE) in opposition to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and others, over the withholding of Kano Native Authorities allocations.
The candidates are the Chairman of NULGE, Ibrahim Muhd, together with Ibrahim Uba Shehu, Ibrahim Shehu Abubakar, Usman Isa, Sarki Alhaji Kurawa, and Malam Usman Imam.
The candidates, by way of their counsel, Mr. Bashir Yusuf-Muhammad, filed a movement ex parte dated Nov. 1, looking for the court docket to restrain the respondents from withholding or delaying allocations important for native governance within the state.
The respondents embody the Accountant-Common of the Federation, the Income Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Fee (RMAFC), the 44 Kano Native Governments, UBA, Access Bank, and 6 different industrial banks.
When the case got here up for listening to, Yusuf-Muhammad filed a reply to the discover of preliminary objection dated Nov. 20.
“The appliance is connected with a four-paragraph affidavit and a written tackle dated Nov. 3.
“We additionally filed an 11-paragraph higher and additional affidavit dated Nov. 20, together with one exhibit,” he said.
Yusuf-Muhammad urged the court docket to discountenance the respondents’ counter-affidavit and grant the candidates’ reliefs.
Counsel to the 44 Native Governments, Mr. Eyitayo Fatogun (SAN), didn’t oppose the plaintiff’s utility, including that the disbursement of native authorities allocations shouldn’t be disrupted.
Responding, Counsel to the CBN, Mr. Ganiyu Ajape, filed a discover of preliminary objection dated Nov. 14, 2024, pursuant to Order 8 Guidelines (1) and (2) of the Basic Rights Process Guidelines.
“We filed our response with a six-paragraph counter-affidavit dated and filed on Nov. 14,” Ajape mentioned.
He urged the court docket to strike out the CBN’s title from the go well with, arguing that the court docket lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter and shouldn’t grant the candidates’ reliefs.
Equally, Counsel to Assure Belief Financial institution (the forty ninth respondent), Mr. Faruk Asekome, filed a counter-affidavit dated Nov. 18 in response to the candidates’ originating movement, accompanied by a written tackle.
Asekome urged the court docket to strike out his shopper’s title with substantial prices, stating:
“My Lord, there isn’t any affordable explanation for motion disclosed in opposition to GT Financial institution. We’ve got no position within the disbursement of native authorities allocations.”
Justice Ibrahim Musa-Muhammad adjourned the matter for ruling on the discover of preliminary objection and the substantive go well with to a date that might be communicated to the events.
NAN reviews that the court docket had, on Nov. 6, restrained the CBN, AGF, and others from withholding the allocations of the 44 Native Governments in Kano State.
