Oluwatosin Enesi
The governors met with the president at the presidential villa and hailed the judgment stating that they will abide by it.
Although the Chairman of the Governors Forum or NGF and governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq did not convey the collective decision of the forum to newsmen, his counterparts from Anambra and Cross River states did.
Charles Soludo of Anambra described the judgment as great and final, adding, “The Supreme Court is supreme, the final authority and I’m a democrat. I believe in the rule of law.
“Once the Supreme Court has spoken, it has spoken. I think the Governors Forum is meeting to review this. I haven’t seen the document myself. I’ve been extremely, very busy all through the day but I’ve seen snippets of it.
“But at a fundamental level, yes, we need resources to get down to the grassroots and we need the people’s money to work for them at all levels, whether at the federal or the state and the local government.”
On his part, Cross River State governor Bassey Otu said the governors had taken the judgement in good faith.
“About the Supreme Court judgement, Nigeria is a democratic country, and we know very well that President Tinubu and the Renewed Hope Agenda is a democratic one.
“I believe the judgment is taken in very good faith. All Nigerians should be happy about it. I don’t think anybody is against development in the local governments. I don’t think so,” he said.
It was reported that the apex court in a suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, filed on May 24, 2024, by the Federal Government held that it is illegal and unconstitutional for governors to continue to receive and seize funds allocated to the LGAs.
According to the court, the “dubious practice” which has gone on for over two decades, is a clear violation of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
In its lead judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court held that no House of Assembly of any state has the power to make laws that could, in any manner, grant governors the right to interfere with statutory allocations meant for the local councils.
It further held that the law mandated that LGAs must be governed by democratically elected officials, the Supreme Court ordered that forthwith, funds meant for councils must be directly paid to them from the federation account.
“Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law. It is the position of this court that the federation can pay LGA allocations to the LGAs directly or pay them through the states.
“In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs,” the apex court held.
It further declared as unconstitutional the appointment of caretaker committees, by governors to run the affairs of the LGAs.
It held that the 36 states are under obligation to ensure democratic governance at the third tier of the government.
Consequently, the apex court ordered that, henceforth, funds of local governments where democratically-elected officials are not in place should be withheld.
Our Reporter
