LG autonomy: How AGF, Hon etched their names in sand of Nigeria’s constitutional history

…As Benue LG staff celebrate autonomy, urge full implementation

The Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi and Sebastin Hon both members of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), have etched their names in the sand of Nigeria’s Constitutional History as they filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to grant full autonomy and direct funding to all 774 local government councils in the country.

Last Thursday, a seven-man panel delivered a judgment led by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declaring that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.

The court further declared that a state government has no power to elect a caretaker committee and a local government council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.

“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,” the court said.

The 36 state governments, through their attorneys general, filed a defense, arguing that the Supreme Court of Nigeria lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case as Sebastine Hon, and Yusuf Alli, joined the attorney general of federation in the case on Pro-Bono basis due to love of the country’s development.

Meanwhile, Benue State Local Government staffers have since gone into celebration following the news of the ruling.

The Benue State Government Adviser to the Governor for Bureau of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dennis Akura said that, “The state, governor, government and her people celebrate a visionary leader, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the victory he has once again obtained for the masses. It is a great victory indeed and it goes to show how important the ordinary man on the street, the last man down the line is important to him and his administration”

He stressed that, “The victory is in total alignment with the stand of His Excellency, our governor, Hyacinth Iormem Alia, who has, right through his campaigns, called for autonomy for the Local Governments.

“He displayed his desire for the manifestation of this when he granted financial autonomy to the local governments as soon as he took office.

“This victory will resound years down the line and history will always remember that once upon a time, great leaders arose who truly cared for the masses.”

Worries of full implementation of the court ruling were also expressed by legal luminaries, staff and analysts.

A Principal Partner and Associates (Gedege Chambers) as well as a Legal practitioner and Consultant, Terseer Anongo, said: “I equally celebrate the celebrated verdict of the apex Court delivered by the full Court. However, my qualms remain the effect of the pronouncement purporting to delete Section 262(6) of the Constitution which provides for State/Local Government Joint Account. I think and I suppose the learned AGF knows the Law and that it does not lie within the Jurisdictional vires of the Supreme Court to amend or delete any constitutional provisions. The powers of so doing lies with the National Assembly. Section 3(1) of the Constitution only donated powers to our Courts to nullify any other piece of legislation that is inconsistent with the Constitutional provisions.”

“The way out of this local Government autonomy is constitutional amendment and not judicial pronouncement,” he emphasized.

A Benue Analyst, Tingir Orseer, who described the judgement as long overdue, questioned the possibility to compensate the affected local government staff using Benue as example, where caretaker Chairmen have been recently selected with the powers to handle its affairs for a period of six (6) months.

He also expressed worries over the adverse effects on the states’ independent electoral commissions that may be denied their duties of conducting Local Governments polls and that of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).