No fewer than 13 states have fixed dates for Local Government elections in the aftermath of last Thursday’s Supreme Court judgement which prohibited federal allocation to council being administered by caretaker committees.
The states that have commenced council poll preparations include Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina, Osun, Enugu, Benue, Rivers, Jigawa, Imo, Kebbi, Abia, and Anambra states.
On Tuesday, the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission scheduled the council poll for October 19, 2024.
The Supreme Court had declared it unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for the local government councils.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the seven-man panel held that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
The court delivered the landmark judgment in suit: SC/CV/343/2024, filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) against the 36 state governors.
The AGF had sued the state governors through their respective state attorneys-general.
The apex court declared that the government is divided into three tiers: federal, state, and local governments.
S’Court verdict
The court further declared that a state government had no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a local government council was only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,’’ the apex court declared, putting an end to the practice of appointing caretaker committees to run the councils by the state governors.
The court further asserted that the use of a caretaker committee by the state governments to administer the local government violated the 1999 Constitution.
The Supreme Court further affirmed that the local government areas should be governed by a democratically elected government but “The state by the abuse of their power has worked against this law.”
The court declared that the 36 state governors had no power to dissolve democratically elected local government councils to replace them with caretaker committees.
“Such an act is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void,’’ Agim stated.
The apex court barred the state governors from receiving, retaining or spending the local government allocation.
It said the practice of receiving and retaining local government funds by the states had gone on for too long, describing it as a clear violation of section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The court held that the 1999 Constitution states that any money leaving the federation account must be distributed to the three tiers of government.
It added that it is the local government administrations that should receive and manage funds meant for the local councils.
Agim declared, “I hold that the state’s retention of the local government funds is unconstitutional.
“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.”
Following the verdict which was widely applauded, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Wale Edun, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) were reported to have scheduled a meeting for Tuesday (yesterday) with the Federal Accounts and Allocation Committee officials to discuss the implementation of the apex court verdict.
It has not been confirmed if the meeting was held.
In the wake of a pivotal Supreme Court judgment that prohibited state governments from controlling local council finances, no fewer than 13 states have expedited preparations to hold local government elections.
The court’s landmark decision declared it unconstitutional for state governors to withhold funds allocated for local government councils, ruling that the 774 local government councils in the country must manage their own finances independently.
The states that have already initiated council poll preparations include Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina, Osun, Enugu, Benue, Rivers, Jigawa, Imo, Kebbi, Abia, and Anambra. Kaduna State has scheduled its local council elections for October 19, 2024.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court affirmed that local government areas must be governed by democratically elected representatives, not caretaker committees appointed by state governors. The court asserted that such practices by state governments violated the Nigerian Constitution.
“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,” the apex court declared, effectively ending the longstanding practice of state governors dissolving elected local councils and replacing them with caretaker committees.
The ruling was widely applauded, and the Finance Minister along with the Attorney General of the Federation were reported to have scheduled a meeting with the Federal Accounts and Allocation Committee to discuss the implementation of the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict.
