The Federal Government has filed a suit at the Supreme Court seeking to compel the governors of Nigeria’s 36 states to grant full autonomy to local governments within their jurisdictions.
The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, was initiated by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on behalf of the Federal Government.
The government is asking the Supreme Court to issue “an order prohibiting state governors from unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.”
Predicated on 27 grounds, the Federal Government accused the state governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power. In the originating summons, the government also requested the Supreme Court to direct that funds allocated to local governments from the Federation Account be paid directly to them rather than through state governments.
Additionally, the justice minister sought “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 benefit of local governments when no democratically elected local government system is in place in the states.”
The Federal Government further requested “an order stopping governors from constituting caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments as against the constitutionally recognized and guaranteed democratic system.”
The originating summons was supported by a 13-paragraph affidavit deposed by Kelechi Ohaeri of the Federal Ministry of Justice. Ohaeri stated that the AGF filed the suit under the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction on behalf of the Federal Government.
He said, “The Constitution of Nigeria recognizes federal, state, and local governments as three tiers of government, and the three recognized tiers draw funds for their operation and functioning from the Federation Account created by the Constitution.
“By the provisions of the Constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system, and the Constitution has not made provisions for any other system of governance at the local government level other than a democratically elected local government system.
“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.
“The failure of the governors to put a democratically elected local government system in place is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution, which they and the President have sworn to uphold.
“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 have not yielded any result. To continue to disburse funds from the Federation Account to governors for non-existing democratically elected local governments is to undermine the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.
“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 urged the Supreme Court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the Constitution to declare that state governors and state Houses of Assembly are obligated to ensure a democratic system at the third tier of government in Nigeria. He also called on the court to hold that governors cannot lawfully dissolve democratically elected local government councils.
Furthermore, he requested the court to declare that “the dissolution of democratically elected local government councils by the governors or anyone using the state powers derived from laws enacted by the state Houses of Assembly or any Executive Order is unlawful, unconstitutional, null, and void.”
The Supreme Court has scheduled the hearing for Thursday, May 30.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees praised the Federal Government’s move and expressed its intention to join the lawsuit as a concerned party.
