LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY:-13 states rush to hold council polls17th July 2024

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY:-

13 states rush to hold council polls

17th July 2024

•Bauchi fixes LG poll for August 19, Kogi election holds October 19

•Jigawa, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Katsina, Kebbi, Benue set for exercise

No fewer than 13 states have fixed dates for Local Government elections in the aftermath of last Thursday’s Supreme Court judgement which prohibited federal allocation to council being administered by caretaker committees.

The states that have commenced council poll preparations include Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina, Osun, Enugu, Benue, Rivers, Jigawa, Imo, Kebbi, Abia, and Anambra states.

On Tuesday, the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission scheduled the council poll for October 19, 2024.

The Supreme Court had declared it unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for the local government councils.

In the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the seven-man panel held that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.

The court delivered the landmark judgment in suit: SC/CV/343/2024, filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) against the 36 state governors.

The AGF had sued the state governors through their respective state attorneys-general.

The apex court declared that the government is divided into three tiers: federal, state, and local governments.

S’Court verdict

The court further declared that a state government had no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a local government council was only recognisable with a democratically elected government.

“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,’’ the apex court declared, putting an end to the practice of appointing caretaker committees to run the councils by the state governors.

The court further asserted that the use of a caretaker committee by the state governments to administer the local government violated the 1999 Constitution.

The Supreme Court further affirmed that the local government areas should be governed by a democratically elected government but “The state by the abuse of their power has worked against this law.”

The court declared that the 36 state governors had no power  to dissolve democratically elected local government councils to replace them with caretaker committees.

“Such an act is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void,’’ Agim stated.

The apex court barred the state governors from receiving, retaining or spending the local government allocation.

It said the practice of receiving and retaining local government funds by the states had gone on for too long, describing it as a clear violation of section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The court held that the 1999 Constitution states that any money leaving the federation account must be distributed to the three tiers of government.

It added that it is the local government administrations that should receive and manage funds meant for the local councils.

Agim declared, “I hold that the state’s retention of the local government funds is unconstitutional.

“Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law. It is the position of this court that the federation can pay LGA allocations to the LGAs directly or pay them through the states.

“In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs.”

Following the verdict which was widely applauded, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Wale Edun, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) were reported to have scheduled a meeting for Tuesday (yesterday) with the Federal Accounts and Allocation Committee officials to discuss the implementation of the apex court verdict.

The FMR-NEWS was unable to confirm if the meeting was held.

Kaduna LG poll

Announcing the date for the council poll at a meeting with political parties and other stakeholders on Tuesday, the Kaduna SIECOM Chairperson, Hajara Mohammed, explained that the current council officials members were sworn into office on November 1, 2021, and would end their three-year tenure on October 31, 2024.

She said, “The current council members were sworn into office on 1 November 2021 and will end their three-year tenure on 31 October. KAD-SIECOM is responsible for organising the elections of chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, and councillors in the state.

“In consonance with the provision of section 25(1) of the KAD-SIECOM Law 2024, the general public is hereby informed that the LGA council election will be held in Kaduna on Saturday, 19th October 2024, between 8am  and 4pm

“The commission issues the election timetable today, Tuesday 16th July 2024. The 2024 election guidelines have been released with the election timetable KAD-SIECOM is ready to conduct the election on the set date.”

Credited: Punch