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...For a better society... Monday, August 30 2004 Vol 17 No.30 News Editorial Opinion Labour Politics Sports Features Columnists Business Money/Market Energy Alaba Market Foreign News The journey so far  IHEANACHO NWOSU WHEN 22 states of the federation filed a suit at the Supreme Court, asking it to void the Act that abolished, the controversial, onshore/offshore oil dichotomy, they were aware that the move would stir the polity. They were also pretty sure that the decision was going to elicit diverse interpretations and reactions. And true to type, events that followed after filing the suit went within the confine of that prediction. Barely a week after the action, Warri in Delta State and some cities in the South South geo-political zone got heated up as youths of these areas marched to the streets to demonstrate against the move. They bathed arrowheads of the move with a barrage of invectives. But the chairman of the 19 Northern Governor’s Forum, Alhaji Danjuma Goje said the scathing criticisms of the move by the South South were not unexpected. "We expected it. It is not strange to us. But we know what we are doing", he said. Nineteen northern states which include Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara as well as Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states filed the suit. Oyo State, however, dissociated itself from the move, a week after. They contended via the suit filed on their behalf by the Chambers of Yusuf Ali (SAN) that the Act grossly offended the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and sundry anciliary laws of the country. The states also prayed the apex court to issue an order stopping forthwith the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) from implementing and relying on the Act for the purpose of allocating revenue to states and local governments from the Federation Account. "If the Act is implemented, it will impact negatively on the amount that will accrue to the Federation Account and will in turn reduce the shareable revenue due to them", the states argued. As is well known, the legal action has thrown up dusts. It has also pitted the Northern governors against their South South counterparts. The reason for that is obvious. Before signing the bill, entitled "An Act to Abolish the Dichotomy in the Application of the Principle of Allocation. � 2004 @ Champion Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved). Powered By dnetsystems.net dnet�

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