Apex Court Reserves Judgment in FG Suit over LG Autonomy

On Thursday, June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court reserved judgment in the suit filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on behalf of the Federal Government, against the 36 State Governors of the Federation. The lawsuit seeks full authority for the country’s 774 Local Governments.

In the suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, the Federal Government wants the Apex Court to enforce the autonomy of the Local Government, by stopping State Governors from appointing caretaker committees to administer Local Governments in their states. The lawsuit is demanding full autonomy for the country’s 774 municipal governments.

The Federal Government wants the Supreme Court to rule that any Local Government that is run by a caretaker committee rather than an elected Chairman and Councillors should have their Federation Account money withdrawn. It also wants the court to decide that payments owed to Local Governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to them rather than through the State Government to protect their autonomy.

The seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Garba Lawal, announced that parties in the matter will be notified when the verdict will be available after the parties in the suit complete their proceedings. In response, all the 36 States rejected the FG’s claim and urged the Court to dismiss it.

AGF, on his part, requested that the Supreme Court grant all of the reliefs sought by the Federal Government in the petition. The AGF stated, “I adopt and rely on these processes. I request that my lords overrule the different arguments and grant the originating summons.” While several states complained they were denied a fair hearing and not served, the AGF explained that he distributed copies of the affidavits to the defendants via WhatsApp and email. He also noted that the Court bailiff also served the defendants at their various State Liaison offices in Abuja.

According to PUNCH, the Federal Government in the petition is requesting the Supreme Court to issue “an order prohibiting State Governors from unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected Local Government leaders.” The Federal Government accused State Governors of serious misconduct and misuse of power in the lawsuit, which was filed on 27 grounds.

The FG, in the originating summons, asked the Supreme Court to issue an order specifically saying that funds standing to the credit of Local Governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to the Local Governments rather than through the State Governments. The Federal Government has asked for “an order stopping the Governor from constituting caretaker committees to run the affairs of Local Governments as against the Constitutionally recognised and guaranteed democratic system.”

As a result, the AGF urged the Supreme Court to use sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the State Governor and State House of Assembly are obligated to ensure a democratic system at Nigeria’s Third– tier of Government, as well as to hold that Governors cannot lawfully dissolve democratically elected Local Governments chairman

Furthermore, he urged the use of sections 1, 4, 5, 7, and 14 of the Constitution to declare that “the dissolution of democratically elected Local Government councils by Governors or anyone using State powers derivable from laws enacted by the State House of Assembly or any Executive Order is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.”

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