LG autonomy: Afenifere frowns at Supreme Court judgment

The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has berated the Supreme Court judgment that granted financial autonomy to local government areas.

A statement signed by the leader of the group, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and its National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, said the ruling has done incalculable injury to the Nigerian state.

The statement is entitled: “Tinubu and the Grand Conspiracy Against Democracy and True Federalism in Nigeria.”

According to the statement, “Afenifere views the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case filed by the Federal Government on the so-called local government autonomy as a sheer judicial conspiracy in cahoots with the Tinubu administration against the Nigerian state and its foundational principles of federalism.

“Rather than interpret the constitution to uphold its elementary but overriding federal principle, which recognizes only a two-tier federal structure of the central government and federating states, the Supreme Court played to the gallery and wittingly allowed itself a most retrogressive declaration that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.

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“For the avoidance of any doubt, Afenifere makes bold to say that in line with its negotiated basis of existence, Nigeria is a “Federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital Territory”. as affirmed by Section 2 (2) of the 1999 constitution.

“While Afenifere frowns at corruption and misuse of public funds at levels of government, it condemns in most unmistaken terms the subjugation of the states and their constitutional roles, including the local government system, to the whims and caprices of the federal government by any means including obvious manipulation of the federation account as in the present case.”

The group said that the 1999 constitution, which, in spite of its flaws, gives life and power to the Supreme Court, provides in Section 162 and particularly subsection (6) that each state shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account and from the government of the state.