Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to grant a perpetual injunction against the federal government from operating the Excess Crude Account which they said is contrary to section 162 of the 1999 Constitution.
The lawmakers further requested the court to restrict the federal government from further funding, paying into, depositing into or maintaining the Excess Crude Account set up for the purposes of collecting, receiving and or depositing proceeds from the sale of crude above the oil price benchmark.
This was disclosed by the minority leader and leader of APC caucus of the House, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) yesterday in a press release signed by his personal research assistant, Wasiu Olarenwaju-Smart.
The statement read in part: “In the light of the unending vituperation between National Assembly and Federal Government over the legal status of excess crude oil account, the leadership of the All Progressives’ Congress in the House of Representatives has now belled the cat by approaching the court for proper interpretation of Section 162 of the 1999 constitution.”
The lawmakers, in an originating summon filed on January 22, 2014 at the Federal High Court, Abuja in suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2014, by legal counsel, Yemi Candide-Johnson (SAN) on behalf of the plaintiffs: minority leader, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; minority whip, House of Representatives, Samson Osagie; deputy minority leader, House of Representatives, Suleiman Kawu; deputy minority whip, House of Representatives, Garba Datti and chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Solomon Adeola; the plaintiffs claimed that creation and operation of Excess Crude Account by the Federal Government is contrary to provisions of Section 162 of the constitution and therefore request amongst others that “the court declares the account unlawful and grant a perpetual injunction restraining the government from continuing to receive any or part of proceeds from sales of crude oil into the excess crude account.”
The APC lawmakers also sought that the court direct the government to forthwith transmit and transfer all monies domiciled in the Excess Crude Account into the Federation Account.
The illegality of the Excess Crude Account is a subject that the lawmakers have often cried against, compelling the federal government to close the account for been contravening the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Sources: http://leadership.ng/
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