LG Autonomy: ‘FG Cannot Tell Us What To Do In Oyo State ‘ – Seyi Makinde 

By Doris Isreal Ijeoma Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the Federal Government is not superior to states in exercising each other’s constitutional roles. Makinde made this known in Ibadan at an emergency consultative meeting with stakeholders on Monday to appraise last week’s Supreme Court judgement, which granted financial autonomy to the local government areas across the nation. He maintained that the judgment had created a constitutional lacuna that would throw up different challenges at the local government level. The Governor stressed that though he was not opposing transparency in the councils, the Supreme Court judgment “is not a silver bullet that will wash away Nigeria’s problems.” He said, “I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns the financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold. “The law is the law and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court. But it behoves on us to look for our own homegrown solutions that can ensure that we have transparency and that our people do not suffer. This is because when two elephants are fighting it is the grass that will suffer.” Speaking further, Makinde said his administration has been doing what was right, including clearing the backlog of debts owed to workers and pensioners at the council level and fixing the infrastructure deficit in the PHCs and the inner roads. He added, “I am saying this because Oyo State will get out of this even stronger. We are people that know what is good for our people. We can run our own affairs, the Federal Government is not superior constitutionally to the state government. Well, they have more resources than the state, but their jurisdiction is coordinated, so we can do what is right in Oyo state, and we have been doing what is right. “Before we came in, leave bonuses were last paid in 2017 and we have paid for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Primary Health Care facilities, inner roads were all in bad shape. But we have been working collaboratively with the LGs to deliver dividends of democracy to our people. “We were able to clear those salary arrears. We paid N18 billion in pension and gratuities over this period. We upgraded about 209 PHCs, equipped about 264, and completed 60 model schools. We constructed and renovated hundreds of primary school classrooms and fixed some of our roads. “But there are still challenges that we have to address. We still have a backlog of gratuities and pensions. The local governments owe about N55 billion in pension and gratuities. We are developing infrastructure that would push the economy and raise the living standard of their people and push their economy towards sustainable goals.”

Full List Of States That Will Not Receive LG Allocations From July

The Federal Government will from July withhold local government allocations to Cross River, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, and 16 other states in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement. The apex court on Thursday delivered a judgment in the local government autonomy suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on behalf of the Nigerian Government, barring the Federal Government from releasing allocations to local governments governed by unelected officials appointed by the state governors. In the judgment, Justice Emmanuel Agim barred the Federal Government from further paying LG allocations through the state governments, noting that the practice had been abused by the governors. Justice Agim accused the state governors of retaining allocations and utilising them as they please, to the detriment of the local government councils. Following the judgment, 20 states that have no elected local government chairmen stand barred from receiving local government allocations from July until they conduct elections. The states are Jigawa, Rivers, Anambra, Imo, Kwara, Zamfara, Bauchi, Plateau, Abia, Enugu, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe, Ondo, Osun, Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Benue.

LG Autonomy: Presidency Attacks Peter Obi For Not Commenting On Supreme Court Ruling 

By Doris Isreal Ijeoma Presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga has slammed the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over his silence since the Supreme Court gave its ruling granting financial autonomy to Local government areas. Speaking via his account on Friday Night, Onanuga claimed that Obi’s silence shows he is only quick to tweet unverified news about President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria. He insisted that a good opposition must be sincere enough to praise his political opponent when he carries out a great deed. Onanuga urged the former Anambra governor to break his silence and acknowledge Tinubu’s efforts in making Nigeria great. He wrote, “Why is Peter Obi silent? “More than 36 hours after the Supreme Court gave a landmark ruling, granting financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 local councils, Mr. Peter Obi, the defeated Labour Party candidate, has yet to utter a word on the epochal judgment. His silence confirms the belief that he is always quick to tweet unverified news about the Tinubu administration or our country. “A good opposition statesman must be candid enough to applaud his political opponent when he has done some great deed. The Tinubu administration has succeeded in giving life back to our emasculated councils, using the instrumentality of the law. Even Atiku Abubakar has grudgingly admitted this. But Peter has been silent. He should break his silence and acknowledge that President Tinubu is making a great Nigeria possible.’’

Afenifere rejects Supreme Court Ruling On LG Autonomy 

The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has faulted the Supreme Court verdict that granted fiscal autonomy to local government areas. It lamented that the Apex Court verdict has “done incalculable injury to the Nigerian state. This was contained in a statement signed by the leader of the group, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and it’s National Publicity Secretary Prince Justice Faloye, made available to newsmen in Akure, the state capital. It’s entitled ” Tinubu and the Grand Conspiracy Against Democracy and True Federalism in Nigeria. The statement declared that ” Afenifere views the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case filed by the Federal Government on the so-called Local Government autonomy as sheer judicial conspiracy in cahoots with the Tinubu administration against the Nigerian state and its foundational principles of federalism. Rather than interpret the constitution to uphold its elementary but overriding federal principle which recognises only a two-tier federal structure of the central government and federating states, the Supreme Court played to the gallery and wittingly allowed itself a most retrogessive declaration that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government. For the avoidance of any doubt, Afenifere makes bold to say that in line with its negotiated basis of existence, Nigeria is a “Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory”. as affirmed by Section 2 (2) of the 1999 constitution. While Afenifere frowns at corruption and misuse of public funds at levels of government, it condemns in most unmistaken terms the subjugation of the states and its constitutional roles including the Local Government system to the whims and caprices of the federal government by any means including obvious manipulation of the federation account as in the present case. The 1999 constitution, which in spite of its flaws, gives life and power to the Supreme Court provides in Section 162 and particularly subsection (6) that “each state shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the Government of the state”. “Against this unambiguous provision the Supreme Court held that “demands of justice requires a progressive interpretation of the law. ”It is the position of this court that the federation can pay Local Government allocations to the Local Government directly or pay them through the states. ”In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that Local Government allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the Local Governments . ”Contrary to this invented alternative routes, Section 162 of the Constitution is not ambivalent about the process and route through which “all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the Government of the state” shall become payable to the Councils. ‘In other words, the interpretation does not require a voyage into jurisprudential sophistry leading to the absurdity of deliberate judicial amendment of the grundnorm. “By wittingly or inadvertently equating the Nigerian Federation with the Federal Government in the erroneous belief that both expressions are used interchangeably, such that the President may withold funds to the credit of the Local Governments from the Federation Account, under the guise of having no democratically elected officials, which is obviously subject to the interpretation by the Federal Government. ”The apex court has not only done incalculable injury to the Nigerian state, it has lent itself to setting aside its precedent in the hallowed judgment against the President Obasanjo administration withholding funds to the credit of Local Governments in Lagos State even when the Supreme Court said so.

FG drags 36 state Govs to S/Court, seeks autonomy for LGAs

FG Expresses Readiness To Increase Supreme Court Justices

The Federal Government, through the the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN,has dragged the 36 state governors to the supreme court over alleged misconduct in the local government administration. Specifically, the AGF is seeking full autonomy for LG as third tiers of government in the country. The Governors were sued through their respective State Attorneys General. In the suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, the AGF is praying the Apex Court for an order prohibiting State Governors from unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders for local governments.. In the originating summons, AGF is also praying the Apex Court for an order permitting the funds standing in the credits of local governments to be directly channelled to them from the Federation Account in line with the provisions of the Constitution as against the alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors. The summon personally signed by AGF, seeks an order of the Apex Court stopping governors from constituting Caretaker Committees to run the affairs of local governments as against the Constitutionally recognized and guaranteed democratically system. It also applied for an order of injunction restraining the governors, their agents and privies from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released from the Federation Account for the benefits of local governments when no democratically elected local government system is put in place in the states. The suit is predicted on 27 grounds among which are that the Nigeria Federation is a creation of the 1999 Constitution with President as Head of the Federal Executive arm of the Federation and has sworn to uphold and give effects to the provisions of the Constitution. *That the governors represent the component states of the Federation with Executive Governors who have also sworn to uphold the Constitution and to at all times,give effects to the Constitution and that the Constitution, being the supreme law, has binding force all over the Federation of Nigeria. * That the Constitution of Nigeria recognizes federal, states and local governments as three tiers of government and that the three recognized tiers of government draw funds for their operation and functioning from the Federation Account created by the Constitution. *That by the provisions of the Constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system and that the Constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than democratically elected local government system. *That in the face of the clear provisions of the Constitution, the governors have failed and refused to put in place a democratically elected local government system even where no state of emergency has been declared to warrant the suspension of democratic institutions in the state. *That the failure of the governors to put democratically elected local government system in place, is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution which they and the President have sworn to uphold. *That all efforts to make the governors comply with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution in terms of putting in place, a democratically elected local government system, has not yielded any result and that to continue to disburse funds from the Federation Account to governors for non existing democratically elected local government is to undermine the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution. *That in the face of the violations of the 1999 Constitution, the federal government is not obligated under section 162 of the Constitution to pay any State, funds standing to the credit of local governments where no democratically elected local government is in place. Fagbemi SAN therefore asked the Apex Court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the State Governors and State Houses of Assembly are under obligation to ensure democratically system at the third tier of government in Nigeria and to also invoke the same sections to hold that the governors cannot lawfully dissolve democratically elected local government coincils. The AGF also prayed for invocation of sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that dissolution of democratically elected local government Councils by the Governors or anyone using the State powers derivable from laws enacted by the State Houses of Assembly or any Executive Order is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void. A 13-paragragh affidavit in support of the originating summons deposed to by one Kelechi Ohaeri from the Federal Ministry of Justice averred that the AGF took out the suit against the Governors under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on behalf of the Federal Government. The deponent asserted that local government system recognized by the Constitution is a democratically elected local government coincils and that the amount due to local government Councils from the Federation Account is to be paid to local government system recognized by the Constitution. The deponent sought to tender during hearing, Daily Post online publication of January 29, 2024 titled “LG Administration; 15 Govs under scrutiny over Constitutional breach”, Vanguard online special report of September 12, 2023, Guardian editorial of January 23, 2024, Premium Times online publication of December 1, 2023, Vanguard online publication of December 1, 2023 and Arise online news of December 2, 2023 to justify the national importance public interest on the issues of autonomy for local governments in Nigeria. Hearing on the suit is fixed for Thursday, May 30.