The Abuja Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory’s decision from April 27, mandating Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to settle the outstanding N3.4 billion debt. This debt is part of a larger N4.9 billion sum adjudicated by the Supreme Court on May 7, 2021.
The debt originated when the Supreme Court ruled against Governor Makinde, alongside the state’s Attorney-General, Accountant-General, and four others, following an appeal by APC-affiliated chairmen and councillors who were dismissed by Makinde upon his inauguration on May 29, 2019.
A unanimous verdict by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal yesterday condemned Governor Makinde’s actions as a flagrant disrespect to the nation’s judiciary. The appellate court, siding with the arguments presented by Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), the lawyer representing the former council chiefs, resolved the issues against the appellants and dismissed their appeal for lack of merit, imposing a N50 million cost payable to the ex-council chiefs led by Bashorun Mojeed Bosun Ajuwon.
The appeal, marked CA/595/2023, was filed by Governor Makinde, the Oyo State Attorney General, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Accountant General of Oyo State, the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, the House of Assembly, and the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).
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Justice Danlami Senchi, delivering the lead judgment, refuted the appellants’ claim that the judgment debt amount was uncertain, citing a December 13, 2021, letter from the Oyo State Attorney General that acknowledged the debt and promised full payment within six months.
Furthermore, Justice Senchi rejected the appellants’ argument that the ex-council chiefs should have obtained consent from the Oyo State Attorney General before initiating garnishee proceedings to claim the state’s funds for the debt settlement. He stated that such a requirement would unfairly make the Attorney General, a debtor himself, a judge in his own case.
The Supreme Court had previously ordered the Oyo State Government to calculate and pay the entitled salaries and allowances to the ex-council chiefs within three months. However, the government only paid N1.5 billion, leading the ex-council chiefs to initiate garnishee proceedings against Governor Makinde and others at the High Court of the FCT.
Justice A. O. Ebong of the High Court of the FCT issued a garnishee order absolute in the April 27 ruling, instructing Governor Makinde and the others to pay the balance of the judgment debt in installments, starting with an immediate payment of N1,374,889,425.60. The remaining N2 billion is to be paid in quarterly installments of N500 million, with the first installment due on July 31, 2023.