ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment on the suit filed by the Federal Government, seeking full autonomy for the 774 local government areas in the country today.
A seven-member panel of the apex court, led by Garba Lawal, had, on June 13, reserved judgment on the civil matter, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.
During the hearing of the case, the states, in separate preliminary objections, sought the dismissal of the suit with substantial cost.
They argued that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, who filed the action on behalf of the LGAs, lacked the locus standi (legal right) to do so.
Ondo State government specifically described the AGF as “a busy body and a meddlesome interloper” that is interfering in local government affairs.
The state said Section 232 of the constitution only permitted the invocation of the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court where there is a dispute between the federation as plaintiff and states as defendants, which involves any question of law or fact on which the existence or extent of the legal right of either the federation or states depends.
It further argued that the Federal Government lacked the legal right to maintain the action on the account that the funds complained of in the suit belong to local governments created by the constitution as a distinct and different tier of government independent of the Federal Government.
Citing Section 162(3) of the constitution, Ondo State averred that any amount standing to the credit of the federation account shall be distributed among the federal and state governments and the local government areas in each state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
It further argued that the sharing, among the three distinct tiers, is not subject to the discretion or any terms and conditions of the Federal Government.
The state equally argued that by the provisions of Section 162(8) of the 1999 Constitution, “the amount standing to the credit of local government areas of a state shall be distributed among the local governments on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the State.”
Besides Ondo, other states, including Lagos and Taraba, have argued that they already have democratically elected LGA officials in place, insisting the suit amounted to an abuse of the judicial process.
They argued that the Federal Government should not have joined them in the matter.
On its part, Imo State, through its Attorney General, C. O. C. Akolisa, told the court that it has concluded plans to organise its LGA elections, saying the process was only delayed by a pending litigation.
The states further alleged that the AGF breached their rights to fair hearing when he failed to serve them with a copy of a further affidavit he filed in support of the suit.
However, in his response, Fagbemi told the apex court that all the defendants were duly served with all the relevant processes.
The AGF told the Supreme Court that apart from service that was effected by the registry of the court, he also served his further affidavit on all the defendants through both email and WhatsApp.
Fagbemi argued that though some states claimed to have democratically elected LGA officials, they, however, failed to adduce any evidence to show they are in full compliance with provisions of the law on the administration of LGA affairs.
“Therefore, my lords, your decision on this matter must be across board,” the AGF said.
He urged the court to dismiss the objections and grant all the reliefs the Federal Government is seeking in favour of the LGAs.
In the suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, the Federal Government prayed the Supreme Court to okay full autonomy for all the LGAs in the country as the third tier of government.
It prayed the court to issue an order, prohibiting state governors from embarking on unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders.
