LG autonomy: APC govs complying, council chairmen say

By Omeiza Ajayi

The Forum of Local Government Chairmen in the All Progressives Congress APC has declared that governors elected on the platform of the ruling party have nothing against compliance with the Supreme Court judgment granting full autonomy to the nation’s 774 local councils.

Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Council of Niger State and Chairman of the Progressives Local Government Chairmen Forum, Dr Mustafa Jibril Alheri, made this known while addressing journalists in Abuja shortly after leading members of the Forum to a meeting with the national leadership of the party.

Alheri insisted that governors in APC-controlled states were already complying with the judgment, describing the process as gradual, and maintained that the relationship between council chairmen and their state governors has remained cordial.

He said: “I want to also use this opportunity to assure you that we have the support of our governors. My own governor, the Governor of Niger State, Farmer Mohammed Umar Bago, is a strong supporter of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and one of the greatest leaders we have had regarding the issue of local government autonomy.

“The President has been pursuing this for a very long time, and a lot of our states, especially the progressive states, are enjoying full autonomy. A lot of states are enjoying full autonomy, and this is a gradual process. It’s a transition process. It’s something that has been going on for a very long time.

“The APC, as a party, has taken it upon itself, through the leadership of the President, to ensure that we get complete and full autonomy.”

The Supreme Court, in a July 2024 judgment, had affirmed the financial autonomy of the local governments. In the unanimous decision of its seven-member panel, the apex court upheld a suit filed by the Federal Government to strengthen the independence of local councils nationwide.

A member of the panel, Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgment, held that local governments across the country should receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation, ruling that it is illegal and unconstitutional for governors to receive and withhold funds meant for Local Government Areas (LGAs) in their states.

Checks, however, revealed that the states have since prevaricated in complying with the judgment, prompting President Bola Tinubu, while addressing the APC National Executive Committee meeting last December, to threaten the governors with the use of an Executive Order to enforce compliance.

Alheri, in his remarks, brushed aside concerns that governors were dragging their feet, insisting the transition was well underway.

“In Niger State, we are having all the support that we need from our governor, and most of the states under the Progressive Local Government leadership are also having very good support from their governors. We are transitioning jointly, slowly but surely, towards complete and full autonomy.

“We are in collaboration with our governors. All the things that our governors are doing, we are signatories to them. It’s all for the development of the state, and we believe that surely the dream of Nigerians to see complete and full autonomy will come to pass across the whole of Nigeria, especially if all the other governors who are yet to join the APC eventually join the APC”, he disclosed.

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