Ogun drags NFIU to court over cash withdrawal ban from public accounts

The Ogun State Government on Tuesday said it has dragged the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) before the Supreme Court over its financial guidelines prohibiting cash withdrawals from public accounts.

It, however, dismissed being a party to a case at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Supreme Court had fixed October 22 for the hearing of a suit filed by at least 16 state governments challenging the constitutionality of the laws establishing the EFCC and two others.

A seven-member panel of justices, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, fixed the date after the states were joined as co-plaintiffs and granted leave for consolidation of the case in the suit originally filed by the Kogi State Government through its Attorney General (AG).

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In the suit marked SC/CV/178/2023, Ogun was listed alongside Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Nassarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross-River and Niger, as co-plaintiffs.

But a statement by Kayode Akinmade, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Information and Strategy, explained that Ogun is not part of the case.

The statement said the state is contending in court the NFIU’s Financial Guidelines, which it said unfairly “limits the operations of states and local governments in the country.”

Daily Trust reports that in the build-up to the 2023 general elections, the NFIU released new guidelines, which it said, were aimed at mitigating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons among others.

The provisions of the framework also prohibit cash withdrawals from public accounts and banned the payment of estacodes and overseas allowances to civil and public servants in cash.

Akinmade said Ogun State is challenging the NFIU’s decision in a case marked SC/CV/912/2024 as against another one marked SC/CV/178/2023 which is challenging the constitutionality of the EFCC.