LG autonomy: FG plans sanctions against defaulting states

• The federal government may be sanctioning no less than eight governors over their failure to conduct local government elections in their states
• Lateef Fagbemi, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, disclosed the plan of the federal government as the states may not meet with federal government’s October 31 deadline for the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment
• The Supreme Court has granted financial autonomy to local governments and compelled the federal government to withhold allocations of local governments where election had not been held

The federal government is planning to impose sanctions on states that fail to grant autonomy to local governments. This move is aimed at ensuring that local governments receive their allocations directly from the federation account rather than through state governments.

Lateef Fagbemi, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, said the federal government would also scrutinise the reason why some state governments have delayed local government elections in their states.

According to Fagbemi, on Tuesday, October 22, there was no going back on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment that granted autonomy to local government.

The Punch reported that no less than 146 local governments in eight states are yet to conduct local government elections.

There are also reports that October 31 has been set as the deadline to commence the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment and states that refusing to comply would stop their local governments from getting their federal allocations.

Below is the full list of the eight states and their governors:

Governor Aiyedatiwa of Ondo

Ondo state governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa may be sanctioned, going by Fagbemi’s words. The governor, who is contesting in the November 16 governorship election in the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has not conducted a council election despite approaching the deadline.

Recall that Ondo state has shifted its local government election four times. The council poll was first scheduled for December 16, 2023, before being shifted to February 17, 2024. The poll was later postponed to July 13, 2024, before its indefinite suspension.

However, on August 30, the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) announced that the election would be conducted on January 18, 2025. Ondo state has 18 local governments.

Osun state governor

Despite the Supreme Court judgment, Ademola Adeleke of Osun was one of the governors who had yet to conduct local government elections in his state.

Despite the Supreme Court judgment, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, announced that the local government election will be held on February 22, 2025. The state has 30 local governments.

Katsina state

Like Osun, the northwest state has fixed the local government elections to February 15, 2025, despite the Supreme Court ruling earlier in 2024.

This means that Governor Umar Dikko Radda may delay the 34 local governments in Katsina from getting their federal allocations should it begin the implementation of the apex court judgment by October.

Bassey Otu of Cross River

Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River was yet to conduct local government elections in the south-south state.

This means that the 18 local governments in the state may not receive a federal allocation until after the state’s November 2, 2024, local government elections.

Alex Otti of Abia

Abia state is another state where the local government election was yet to be held.

The southeast state will conduct its council poll by November 2 under the governorship of Alex Otti of the Labour Party.

Other states

The remaining states are Ogun, Nasarawa and Zamfara of Governors Dapo Abiodun, Abdullahi Sule and Dauda Lawal. They planned to hold local government elections on November 16, 2 and 16, respectively.

Ogun state has 20 local governments, Nasarawa has 14, and Zamfara has 14.

LG autonomy: Lagos assembly to scrap LCDA

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Lagos state House of Assembly is considering scrapping the LCDAs created in 2003 by President Bola Tinubu when he was governor.

The new proposed bill to amend the state’s local government law would recreate the LCDAs into administrative areas.

Bisi Afolabi, a legal practitioner who spoke with Legit.ng on the development, said the Nigerian constitution did not recognise the LCDAs.

Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng

Source: Legit.ng