Second Vice President, Nigerian Bar Association, Monday Ubani has said the decision of the federal government to withdraw money from the Excess Crude Account for 12 fighter jets without due approval by the National Assembly amounts to a breach of the nation’s constitution.
Ubani who made these assertions while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Monday evening, added that the Excess Crude Account was not recognized by law hence was an illegal account.
“There is a procedure for spending public money under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If you go to Section 80, it makes provision for how money accruable to the federation account should be spent.
“It must be properly appropriated by the National Assembly and if it is not, it amounts to a clear breach of the constitution.
“The issue of exigency or emergency is a different kettle of fish. If the explanation is satisfactory to the National Assembly, they may overlook it and ratify.
“In the first place, the Excess Crude Account is an illegal account and not backed by any law and if you want to use that process to take out any money from the system, it will be regarded as illegal. Even money that goes above the benchmark must be paid into the federation account. So whatever they are doing is illegal,” Ubani said.
Speaking on the same Channels programme, Spokesperson, House of Reps, Honourable Abdulrazak Namdas has said that the National Assembly would greatly consider the explanation of exigency given by the federation, in recognition of the various security challenges facing the country. Read more<<<<<
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