Sacking elected local government chairmen is treason - Attorney-General tells Governors

 The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has warned state governors against sacking democratically elected local government chairmen, stating that such actions amount to treason.

 

Speaking in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a state of the nation discourse themed Strengthening Local Government Autonomy in Nigeria: A Dialogue on the Impact and Implementation of the Supreme Court Judgement, organized by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Fagbemi emphasized the illegality of such dismissals.

Represented by the Director of Civil Appeals in the Ministry of Justice, Tijani Gazali (SAN), Fagbemi condemned the continued violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which prohibits the illegal removal of elected local government councils by state governors.

 

“Let me state in unequivocal terms that this act is tantamount to treason and must be treated as such,” he said.

 

Fagbemi further warned that despite the constitutional immunity granted to governors under Section 308, persistent defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling would lead to “unpleasant consequences for the state as a whole.”

 

He cited Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits any person or group from taking control of government at any level outside the provisions of the constitution.

 

“By virtue of Sections 1(2) and 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, local government must be by democratically elected local government councils and no other body, and the government or administration of a local government area by a state government, governor of a state, local government caretaker committee, interim local government council, administrator, head of local government or by whatever name called or by any other state agency or other body is not in accordance with the 1999 Constitution, is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and of no effect,” he stated.

 

Addressing financial autonomy, Fagbemi clarified the provisions of Section 162(5) of the 1999 Constitution, emphasizing that the funds allocated to local governments must reach them directly.

 

“Subsection provides that it should be given to the states to take to them, and subsection provides that for this purpose the states shall maintain a special account called state joint local government account into which the state shall pay the allocation to local government councils from the federation accounts and revenue from the government of the state.

 

“Thus, Section 162(5) merely appointed the states agents of the federation to collect local government allocations from the federation account and pay to them, but does not give the states any right or interest in the said allocations to the local government councils from the federation account.

 

“The duty of the state is to simply convey to the local government councils their allocations from the federation account. The constitution does not give the states any right or interest in the allocations to a local government council from the federation account,” he said.

 

In his opening remarks, NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) highlighted the ongoing power struggle over local government control in Osun State between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

 

“I hold a position that there must be democracy at the local government. If we fail to get it right at the local government level, we may be setting a stage for calamity,” he said.

 

A representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria also disclosed that efforts were being finalized to register account numbers for all local governments in Nigeria.