The Federal Government on Wednesday said that the allocation for Rivers State will be released to the Administrator of the State, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas (retd) when he resumes office.
Following the crisis in the state, the Supreme Court has withheld the state allocation until the State House Assembly properly appropriates the funds for usage.
However, on Tuesday President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers, suspending the state Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and members of the House of Assembly.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, while briefing State House correspondents at the presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, said the funds could be released if the administrator requests it.
Answering questions on whether the Federal Government would release the allocation from the federation account to the state, the minister said “If the administrator requests it, I will say it should be released to him.
“And to me, it will be in order for the release of that fund because the event of the extraordinary situation has brought them out of the normal situation of things.”
He also criticized those that said the President should have intervened in other forms instead of emergency, saying “I think the President has acted timeously. He has given the opportunity to all the parties involved to make amends. Before then, he had to assemble them, he had tried to mediate. “