The Supreme Court has thrown out a suit filed by the 36 state governments and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum against the federal government concerning how recovered stolen assets were handled.
The judgment was delivered in Abuja on Friday, May 23, 2025, by a panel of seven justices.
The states took the federal government to court, accusing it of withholding over ₦1.8 trillion in cash and other assets recovered between 2015 and 2021.
They argued that these funds and properties, which were seized through various anti-corruption efforts, were not sent into the Federation Account as required by the Constitution.
Instead, they claimed the money was moved into other accounts managed solely by the federal government.
In their suit, the state governments said the funds came from international and local asset recoveries and included large sums of money, vehicles, properties, and crude oil.
They said these recoveries should be shared among the three tiers of government through the Federation Account, but accused the federal government of diverting the funds into the Consolidated Revenue Account and other places not backed by the law.
The state governments also pointed to the creation of new accounts like the Asset Recovery Account and the Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account, claiming these were illegal and went against the Constitution.
They cited laws, including sections of the 1999 Constitution and the Finance (Control and Management) Act of 1958, to support their position.
They asked the Supreme Court to order the federal government to return all the recovered money and assets to the proper account and to also provide a detailed breakdown of what had been recovered.
They wanted the court to direct the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission to set up a system for how recovered assets would be shared.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that it was not the right court to handle the matter.
According to the judges, only the Federal High Court has the authority to decide on such issues.
Justice Mohammed Idris, who read the decision written by Justice Chidiebere Uwa, said the case was wrongly brought before the apex court and should have started from a lower court.
With this ruling, the case has been struck out, and the efforts of the 36 states to force the federal government to share the recovered loot through the Federation Account have come to an end, at least for now.
