He’s acting as devil’s advocate – Abalagha knocks Ibori for opposing LG autonomy

A Niger Delta leader, Chief Goodnews Abalagha, has criticised James Ibori for opposing the Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils.

The former Delta State Governor stated that asking the federal government to pay local government allocations to their respective accounts “is utter madness”.

“The Supreme Court has dealt a severe setback to the principle of federalism as defined by Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” he stressed.

In an interview with Newspot on Saturday, Abalagba declared support for the decision of the apex court, saying it was a good development, though overdue.

Abalagha, who chaired a meeting of Niger Delta elders this week in Bayelsa State, noted that direct crediting of funds to local government will fast-track development.

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Speaking in an interview with Newspot, he said: “Ibori, as it stands, is a statesman and statesmen should be seen to be so in utterance and in action.

“A lot of us from the Niger Delta, over the years, have been championing and agitating for the financial autonomy of the local government councils in the country.

“You and I know that what we have here, local government elections conducted by the state governors, are not a true representation of the people.

“One of the best ways to ensure that development is brought to the people at the grassroots is through the LGAs. But over the years, LGAs and state governments’ joint allocations have become a scam.

“Governors now use the LGAs as their ATMs. So we’re very delighted that our president, who was a governor himself, understood how these things work. So for a personality like Ibori to come out and start criticising what the entire people are rejoicing over, we’re taken aback by his outburst. And we’re beginning to imagine: What does Ibori stand to gain if the local government system continues to be strangulated? Ibori is not a careless talker. For him to speak against this landmark judgement, shows that there is more to it. So that’s why we’re alerting the public and also calling him, as an elder statesman, to support the popular opinion of Nigerians.”

He said further: “We do know that Atiku is his very good friend. He has so many friends in PDP and he’s a PDP man. So, whether he’s speaking as an opposition or has assumed the position of the opposition, we don’t know.

“We don’t really know his motivation factor to be the one now acting as the devil’s advocate being used by powerful northern interests to propagate the agenda and also see how they can demarket the Tinubu presidency for their own political interests.”