Supreme Court nullifies Buhari’s Executive Order 10

The Supreme Court has declared as unlawful and unconstitutional the Executive Order 10 (EO10) issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature.

In a majority decision on Friday, six out of the court’s seven-member panel agreed that the President exceeded his constitutional powers in issuing the EO10. Consequently, they nullified and set aside the order. One justice delivered a dissenting judgment.

All the seven members, however, agreed that the states were not entitled to be refunded all they had spent before now to maintain those courts.

The judgment was on the suit filed by the 36 states against the FG on the funding of the Judiciary and the constitutionality of the EO10.

READ: Governors drag FG to Supreme Court over funding of judiciary

The apex court’s lead judgment, which was prepared by Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammed and read by Justice Centus Nweze, held that the responsibility of funding of state courts lies squarely with the state governments. The 36 state governors had filed the originating summons before the Supreme Court following the order signed in May 2020, arguing that under sections 121(3) and 6 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 the states are only to maintain the recurrent expenditure of the lower courts of the states, while the federal government would take care of the capital projects of high courts upwards as superior courts of record.