The Supreme Court has directed the governors of Nigeria’s 36 states to file their respective defences in response to a lawsuit filed against them by the federal government, News About Nigeria reports.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, initiated the suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, seeking full autonomy for local governments.
The federal government, through the AGF, sued the state governors via their respective State Attorneys General.
The suit, based on 27 grounds, requests the apex court issue an order prohibiting state governors from the unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.
The federal government states that Nigeria, as a federation, is a creation of the 1999 Constitution, with the President as the head of the federal executive arm of the federation, sworn to uphold and give effect to the provisions of the Constitution.
The suit accuses the state governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power.
During Thursday’s court session, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ordered the governors to file their responses to the originating summons within seven days.
The court instructed the AGF to file his response within two days after receiving the states’ responses.
Garba Lawal, leading the Supreme Court panel, agreed that shortening the timeline was necessary due to the case’s national importance.
The court mandated that all processes must be filed and exchanged before June 10.
The court has scheduled the hearing of the suit for June 13.
Additionally, Lawal ordered that the eight states not in attendance during Thursday’s proceedings—Borno, Kano, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, and Sokoto—must be served with fresh hearing notices, as their attorneys-general were absent despite being served with hearing notices previously.
