The Supreme Court, on Thursday, reserved judgment in the suit filed by the Federal Government against the 36 state governments, seeking to enforce the financial autonomy of the 774 local government areas.
The court reserved judgment after the parties adopted their briefs.
In the suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Federal Government accused the state governments of stifling local governments and withholding their funds.
But the 36 states, through their AGs, vehemently opposed the suit and urged the Supreme Court to dismiss it.
In the suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, the Federal Government wants the apex court to enforce the autonomy of the local government by, among other things, stopping state governors from appointing caretaker committees to administer local governments in their states.
The Federal Government wants the Supreme Court to rule that any local government manned by a caretaker committee instead of an elected local government chairman and councillors should have their funds from the Federation Account withheld.
It also wants the court to rule that funds due to local governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them instead of through the state government to guarantee their autonomy.
The seven man-panel, of the apex court led by Justice Garba Lawal, announced that parties in the matter would be communicated when the judgment was ready after parties in the suit adopted their processes on Thursday.
All 36 states in their response opposed the FG’s suit and appealed to the court to throw out the suit.
The AGF, on his part, asked the apex court to grant all the reliefs sought by the Federal Government in the suit.
The AGF said, “I adopt and rely on these processes. I urge My Lords to overrule the various objections and grant the originating summons.”
While some states claimed that they were denied fair hearing and weren’t served, the AGF clarified that he sent copies of the affidavits to the defendants via WhatsApp and emails.
He added that the court bailiff also served the defendants in their various state liaison offices in Abuja.
The PUNCH reported that the Federal Government, in the suit, is urging the apex court to issue “an order prohibiting state governors from unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders for local governments.”
In the suit predicted on 27 grounds, the Federal Government accused the state governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power.
The FG, in the originating summons, prayed the Supreme Court to make an order expressly stating that funds standing to the credit of local governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to the local governments rather than through the state governments.
The justice minister also prayed for “an order of injunction restraining the governors, their agents and privies from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released from the Federation Account for the benefits of local governments when no democratically elected local government system is put in place in the states.”
The Federal Government further sought “an order stopping governors from constituting caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments as against the Constitutionally recognised and guaranteed democratic system.”
The originating summons was backed by a 13-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Kelechi Ohaeri of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Ohaeri, in the affidavit, averred that the AGF instituted the suit against the governors under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on behalf of the Federal Government.
He said, “The Constitution of Nigeria recognises federal, state and local governments as three tiers of government and the three recognised tiers of government draw funds for their operation and functioning from the Federation Account created by the Constitution.
“By the provisions of the Constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system and the Constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than a democratically elected local government system.
“In the face of the clear provisions of the Constitution, the governors have failed and refused to put in place a democratically elected local government system even where no state of emergency has been declared to warrant the suspension of democratic institutions in the state.
“The failure of the governors to put democratically elected local government system in place is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution which they and the President have sworn to uphold.
“All efforts to make the governors comply with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution in terms of putting in place a democratically elected local government system has not yielded any result and to continue to disburse funds from the Federation Account to governors for non-existing democratically elected local government is to undermine the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.
“In the face of the violations of the 1999 Constitution, the Federal Government is not obligated under Section 162 of the Constitution to pay any state, funds standing to the credit of local governments where no democratically elected local government is in place.”
The AGF, therefore, urged the apex court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the state governors and state Houses of Assembly are under obligation to ensure a democratic system at the third tier of government in Nigeria and to also invoke the same sections to hold that the governors cannot lawfully dissolve democratically elected local government councils.
Furthermore, he urged to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that “the dissolution of democratically elected local government councils by the governors or anyone using the state powers derivable from laws enacted by the state Houses of Assembly or any Executive Order is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.”
