The Federal Government (FG), through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has taken legal action against the 36 state governors, seeking to secure full autonomy for local governments.
News About Nigeria reports that the Federal Government is asking the Supreme Court to put an end to the practice of state governors arbitrarily removing democratically elected local government officials from office.
The Federal Government accuses the governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power and is seeking an order to directly pay local government credits from the Federation Account as provided by the Constitution.
In the lawsuit, filed as SC/CV/343/2024, the FG also seeks to stop governors from constituting caretaker committees to run local government affairs, as this violates the constitutionally-recognised democratic system.
Kelechi Ohaeri from the Federal Ministry of Justice stated in a 13-paragraph affidavit that the AGF instituted the suit under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on behalf of the FG.
The summon highlights the Constitution’s recognition of federal, state, and local governments as three tiers of government, with funds drawn from the Federation Account.
The summon reads, “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 recognises federal, state, and local governments as three tiers of government and that the three recognised 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 the democratically elected local government system.”
It read further 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,” adding 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.”
The AGF, therefore, asks the Supreme Court to invoke Sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the Constitution to declare that state governors and Houses of Assembly must ensure a democratic system at the local government level. Thursday, May 30, 2024, has been fixed for a hearing.
