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.”

Why LG autonomy can’t work — Fayose

By Doris Isreal Ijeoma Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has expressed concern over Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment affirming local governments’ right to receive monthly allocations directly from the federation account. The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party emphasised that despite the court judgment, state Houses of Assembly and the governors will always be a clog in the wheel of local government autonomy. Fayose said this when he featured as a guest on Sunday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today. While stressing that nobody from the grassroots can emerge as a local government chairman without the support of a governor, the Ekiti politician said both the court and FG ‘cannot take the baby from the mother.’ He said, “I am not a lawyer. I am a politician and by God’s grace today, I am an elder statesman. While I love and do not believe that any government should take local government funds, may I say to you very clearly this evening that you cannot take the baby from the mother? There is nobody that can become council chairman without a governor. Anybody telling you otherwise is wasting his time. “Let me quickly remind you that the House of Assembly of every state controls the activities and checkmates the activities of the local government. While I was governor, I had the privilege of receiving money from Abuja. When you receive money from the account, some people manage the account. They are not politicians or the council chairman. “There is only one representative of the governor, which is the local government commissioner. All others are local government officials, workers, and pensioners of the council. And they appropriate the funds. But when you now come and say we are giving power to the local government, what power are you giving to them? No power.” Continuing, the PDP chieftain said aside from the state lawmakers frustrating the process, most council officials don’t take their work seriously. According to him, many workers don’t bother to come to work on certain days of the week. “Any council chairman who says ‘Money is coming to me, I will disrespect my governor’ the House of Assembly will tell you to go and disobey him inside your house. This is because you can never even be a council chairman without the governor standing up for you. The House of Assembly regulates your activities. “Go to the council meeting on Wednesday or Friday, you will not find 10 per cent of the staff of the local government in the office. They don’t come. My name is Ayo Fayose and I want them to dispute this. They don’t come to work. When you make moves to bring them to book, both NULGE and all leaders of the local government will go and beg the governor. “They will be telling you, we will not vote for you. This is the way we operate at the local government. The state is more effective in administrative performance than the local government. At the local government, everybody comes to collect money. Even people have left some states. They live somewhere else and money just hit their accounts,” he added.

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.

Supreme Court Delivers Judgment On Suit Seeking To Sack Tinubu As President

The appeal filed by Hope Democratic Party presidential candidate Ambrose Owuru against the administrations of President Bola Tinubu and the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, was struck out by the Supreme Court on Monday. The Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney General of the Federation are joined as the respondents in this appeal. Owuru’s appeal was turned down by the lower court. In dismissing the appeal, the appeal court found that Owuru had engaged in egregious procedural abuse by inciting the respondents with a pointless, vexatious, and vexing lawsuit. The appellate court further stated that Owuru’s attempt to revive the Supreme Court matter that had died in 2019 was intended to put subordinate courts in direct conflict with the supreme court’s authority. After that, the court mandated that he give N10 million to Buhari, Tinubu, the AGF, and INEC. Owuru had argued that Buhari, the outgoing president, had infringed upon his tenure in 2019 when the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal contesting Buhari’s designation as the election’s victor. In addition, he requested another order barring any sort of handover inauguration that Buhari had planned or approved for May 29, 2023, until his appeal before the highest court had been decided. Dissatisfied with the judgment, Owuru approached the Supreme Court for redress. The appellant’s attorney, Olawuyi Olaoluwa, asked the court to adjourn the hearing when it was summoned on Monday. He added that he had just called early on Monday to represent the appellant. Justice Okoro questioned Olaoluwa about his knowledge of the case’s facts, to which he replied that he had not looked over the procedures. AGF attorney, Adedayo Ogundele urged the court to dismiss the appeal, claiming it constituted a misuse of the legal system. Okoro cautioned him against pursuing a similar case in the future. He said, “There is no substance in this matter. If it were a SAN that brought this matter, he would have been fined. As a young lawyer don’t take this kind of case again. It is not good for your career.” Olaoluwa afterward, applied to withdraw the matter. The five-member panel led by John Okoro dismissed the appeal.

Kaduna: Uba Sani wins at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has affirmed the Victory of Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the March 18 governorship election in Kaduna state. The Apex Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja which set aside the decision of the Kaduna governorship election tribunal sacking Sani and declaring the governorship election in the state as inconclusive. Delivering the Lead Judgement, Justice Tijani Abubakar dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit. More Details later

S’Court Upheld Nasir Idris as Kebbi State Gov

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Nasir Idris of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor of Kebbi State. The Apex Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja dismissing the appel filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Aminu Bande challenging the victory of at the March 18 governorship election. Delivering the Lead Judgement, Justice Abba Aji dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit More Details later

Gombe Guber: Gov Yahaya election affirmed a S’Court

The Supreme Court on Friday, dismissed an appeal by Jibrin Barde of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)challenging the election of Governor Muhammad Yahaya of Gombe state. The Apex court lead judgment read by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, unanimously dismissed an appeal by Barde for want of merit, incompetent and liable to be dismissed. Consequently, the apex court has affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, which had in November, 2023, upheld the election of Yahaya as Governor of Gombe State. The appellate court had upheld Yahaya’s election after dismissing two separate appeals challenging his declaration as winner of the March 18, governorship election in the state.

Nasarawa: Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal Seeking To Sack Gov Sule

A 5-man panel of the Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party seeking to upturn the electoral victory of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State. Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Sule as winner of the election with 347,209 votes to beat his closest challenger, Ombugadu, who polled 283,016 votes. Not happy with the results declared by INEC, Ombugadu and his party, the PDP, filed a petition at the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the outcome of the polls. On October 2, 2023, a 3-man panel of the election petition tribunal led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, in a split decision of two-to-one, declared Ombugadu, the validly elected governor of Nasarawa State. However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, affirmed the election of Abdullahi Sule as Nasarawa State governor, after overturning the earlier decision of the election petition tribunal that removed him from office. Delivering judgement on the appeal filed by Sule, a three-member panel of the appeal court held that the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was wrong to have declared David Ombugadu, as the winner of the 18 March election. Not relenting, Ombugadu appealed at the apex court. But in a lead judgment, Justice Kudirat Kekere Ekun dismissed Ombugadu’s appeal for being ‘devoid of merit, vexatious and incompetent. The panel unanimously held that all the sister appeals abide by the instant judgment. More so, the panel ordered parties to bear their respective costs. Recall that Governor Sule was initially declared the winner of the polls by INEC. But Ombugadu challenged the election outcome at the tribunal, arguing that he won the majority of valid votes during the contest. In a split decision of the tribunal on October 2, two members, forming the majority, declared Ombugadu the winner of the election, while the minority opinion of the only other member affirmed Sule’s victory. Sule subsequently appealed against the majority decision of the tribunal, and won.

Delta Guber: Ovie Omo-Agege lose, Supreme Court affirms Oborevwori

The supreme court, Friday, dismissed judgments on three separate appeals seeking to nullify the election of Sheriff Oborevwori as Delta state governor. The court held that the appeals instituted by the aggrieved candidates, including Ovie Omo-Agege, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ken Pela of the Labour Party (LP) and Kenneth Gbagi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), is incompetent and lacks merit. In separate judgements, delivered by a five-man panel of the Justices read by Justice Inyang Okoro, the Apex court held that the appallants failed to prove that the court below erred in it’s judgement by affirming the election that declared Sheriff Oborevori winner of the March 18 election in the state. The court held that haven considered the arguments of the Counsels, the extent laws and evidences therein as far as the authorities cited, it concluded that appeal has no singular merit. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Oborevwori, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the governorship election held on March 18. Aggrieved by the outcome of the poll, other candidates, including Ovie Omo-Agege, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ken Pela of the Labour Party (LP) and Kenneth Gbagi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), filed separate petitions before the governorship tribunal. However, all the appeals were dismissed by the tribunal. The court of appeal also affirmed Oborevwori’s election. At the supreme court session on Tuesday, the appellants, through their respective counsels, faulted the verdicts of the two lower courts. Omo-Agege contended that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act. He told the apex court that the results of the governorship election were not properly recorded at some polling units, adding that the forms that contained some of the recorded results did not have serial numbers. Gbagi on the other hand prayed the court to declare that Oborevwori was not eligible to contest the election. Pela, the LP candidate, prayed the supreme court to nullify the entire election and order a fresh one. After listening to all parties, a five-member panel of the court said a date for judgment would be communicated.