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BREAKING: Tinubu Govt Drags Governors To Court Over LG Autonomy

Published

6 months ago

May 26, 2024.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Federal Government has sued the Governors of the 36 States of the Federation at the Supreme Court over alleged misconduct in the administration of Local Government Areas (LGAs).

In the suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) the government is seeking full autonomy for all LGAs in the country as the third tier of government.

It specifically prayed the apex court to issue an order, prohibiting state governors from embarking on unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.

As well as 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 FG also asked the Supreme Court for an order to stop the governors from further constituting Caretaker Committees to run the affairs of local governments as against the Constitutionally recognized and guaranteed democratic system.

It equally 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.

“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 suit read in part.

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