A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the freezing of the Katsina State Local Government Joint Account as a result of the failure of the state government to abide by the directive of an earlier court ruling, ordering payment of the entitlements of the dissolved local government chairmen and councillors in the state in 2015.
The ruling presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/122/2022, ordered that “the state’s local government joint account should remain frozen till March 21, 2022.”
This was disclosed by the Katsina Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, while addressing the dissolved council leaders at the party’s secretariat in Katsina.on Friday.
Recall that on assumption of office as Katsina Governor in 2015, Aminu Masari sacked all the 34 local government chairmen and their 361 councillors over alleged financial misappropriation perpetrated by the now dissolved council leaders.
However, in May last year, the dissolved council leaders who took the matter to court ever since to seek redress, got a partial victory in the sense that the Supreme Court ruled in their favour, ordering the state government to pay all their entitlements from the sacked date to when their tenure would have elapsed.
According to Majigiri, the Federal High Court, in a garnishing order issued on 16th February, has frozen the joint account of the state local governments till March 21, 2022.
Majigiri was quoted to have said: “When Aminu Masari refused to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court, we decided to go and seek a garnishing order from the Federal High Court and the garnishing order has been granted by the court.
“The state government, House of Assembly and the Attorney-General of the state have been served accordingly. We are waiting to see what will happen.”
Reacting to the development, the Katsina Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammed Sani, alleged that all the entitlements of the dissolved local government chairmen and their councillors have been paid in accordance with the directive of the apex court, stating that the state government would present all evidence of payment before the Federal High Court on the next adjournment date of March 21, 2022.
