LG Autonomy: What Supreme Court Did on Federal Government’s Suit Against Governors
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on the Federal Government’s lawsuit against the 36 state governors, which seeks full autonomy for the 774 local governments in Nigeria.
On Thursday, Justice Garba Lawal informed the involved parties that the judgment date will be announced later.
The apex court made this decision after a seven-member panel reviewed the submissions from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, on behalf of the Federal Government, as well as the responses from the 36 state governors.
During the proceedings, the AGF urged the Supreme Court to grant all the reliefs sought by the Federal Government. Conversely, the state governors, represented by their respective State Attorneys-General and Commissioners for Justice, opposed the Federal Government’s requests and sought the dismissal of the suit.
The AGF initiated the legal action to secure full autonomy for local governments, aiming to establish them as the third tier of government in the country.
The lawsuit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, asks the Supreme Court to prohibit state governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government chairmen. Additionally, the AGF seeks an order to direct funds from the Federation Account to local governments directly, bypassing the allegedly illegal joint accounts created by the governors.
The AGF also requests that the Supreme Court prevent governors from forming inner committees to manage local government affairs, insisting on the constitutionally guaranteed democratic system. Furthermore, the Federal Government seeks to bar governors and their agents from handling funds intended for local governments when no democratically elected local government system is in place.
The lawsuit is based on 27 grounds, emphasizing that Nigeria’s federation is a product of the 1999 Constitution, which mandates the President to uphold and implement its provisions.
