For the second time in two days, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the Federal Government to pay another huge sum to a Niger Delta State. This time, it is sum of over $3 billion to Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, as part of their revenue shares from crude oil sales.
On Monday, a federal high court in Abuja had ordered the federal government to pay $951b to Bayelsa State. In all of the cases, the states got favourable judgments because the Attorney-General’s Office did not join issues with states in court.
It was not clear on Tuesday if other oil-producing states have such suits or are engaging the federal government in other ways to get their share of the $62 billion said to have been recovered from some oil companies.
In his judgement on Tuesday, Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that the notice of intention to defend the case without joining issues with the plaintiffs was an error on the part of the government.
The court also rejected the claim of the Federal Government that it cannot pay the money it received from crude oil sales adding that the defendant ought to have filed a defence to explain its position in the $62 billion oil earnings as required by law.
In the case of Bayelsa, the amount is the 13 per cent derivative sum due as arrears of revenue and payable to Bayelsa State.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who delivered the judgment, held that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the sole defendant in the case, failed to enter his defence in the suit.
Justice Ekwo ruled that the development made the court to declare the plaintiff’s case “unchanged.”
Ken Njemanze filed the suit on behalf of the Bayelsa government. The plaintiff, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/175/2012 and filed on February 12, urged the court to compel the AGF to pay five per cent of $50 billion recovered as additional revenue that accrued to the Federal Government.
Bayelsa State Attorney General in an affidavit upon which the plaintiff’s claims were based, had urged the court to make the following orders:
“An order directing the defendant (AGF) to pay the sum of $951,190, 840.00, being the 13 per cent derivative sum due as arrears of revenue and payable to Bayelsa as assessed, completed and calculated by the body set up by the AGF pursuant to paragraph b (iii) (b) of the terms of settlement made by the (consent) judgment of the court by the Supreme Court in suit No: SC 964/2016 Attorney General of Rivers State and Others Vs Attorney General of the Federation on October 17, 2018. This is in addition to 10 per cent post-judgment interest at the court rate on the said sum of $951, 190, 840.00, until final liquidation thereof.”