The Ogun State Government on Tuesday confirmed it had dragged the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which is under the federal government, before the Supreme Court over its financial guidelines limiting cash withdrawals from the public accounts.
The state, 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-plaintiff.
But a statement by Kayode Akinmade, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Information and Strategy, explained that Ogun was not part of the case.
The statement said the state was 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 was aimed at mitigating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons among others.
The provisions of the framework also prohibited cash withdrawal from public accounts and banned the payment of estacodes and overseas allowances to civil and public servants in cash.
Akinmade said Ogun state was 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.
He said, “Nigerians recall the obnoxious naira redesign policy, which was invalidated by the Supreme Court after Ogun State and other states successfully challenged the policy.
“A lesser-known fact is that around that time in January 2023, purporting to act under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, and its enabling statute, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) released a guidelines document and an Advisory which, among other things, placed limits on cash withdrawals by State and Local Governments. Ogun State disagrees with these limits because they do not align with our view of the law and cause significant governance disruptions.
“As such, the suit is targeted at invalidating the NFIU Guidelines and Advisory, insofar as they interfere with the economic and governance interests of Ogun State and its Local Governments.
“Especially now that the Supreme Court has guaranteed the Local Governments’ access to their funds, intrusive subsidiary legislation by unelected bureaucrats in the NFIU ought not to stand in the way of the justified free use of public funds.”
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