Supreme Court to Deliver Verdict on Local Government Autonomy Suit Thursday

The Supreme Court of Nigeria will announce its judgment on the suit seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments across the country on July 11. Notices have been sent to the lawyers involved in the case.

The federal government filed the suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, against all 36 states. Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, represented the federal government in the case, seeking an order to prevent governors from arbitrarily dissolving democratically elected local councils.

Additionally, the federal government requested the court to authorize the direct transfer of funds from the federation account to local governments, in line with constitutional provisions.

The suit is based on 27 grounds, asserting that the Nigerian Constitution recognizes federal, state, and local governments as three tiers of government. The constitution mandates that these tiers receive operational funds from the federation account.

The originating summons states, “The constitution of Nigeria recognizes federal, states and local governments as three tiers of government, and the three recognized tiers of government draw funds for their operation and functioning from the federation account created by the constitution.”

Further, the federal government contends that the constitution requires a democratically elected local government system and does not allow for any other forms of local governance. The governors’ failure to establish such a system, despite no state of emergency justifying the suspension of democratic institutions, is seen as a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution.

The federal government argued, “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 have not yielded any result. Continuing to disburse funds from the federation account to governors for non-existing democratically elected local governments undermines the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.”

The apex court has been asked to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the constitution to declare that governors and state houses of assembly must ensure democratically elected systems at the local government level.