In a statement released on Friday, the Coordinator Alagbonsi Abdullateef hailed the Supreme Court’s decision on local government autonomy.
A civil society organisation, the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), has called on Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State to recover all funds paid to the illegal Transition Implementation Committees (TICs) following a Supreme Court judgment affirming the local government autonomy.
In a statement released on Friday, the Coordinator Alagbonsi Abdullateef hailed the Supreme Court’s decision on local government autonomy.
Alagbonsi described the Supreme Court judgment on the LG Autonomy suit between the Nigerian government and the states as a significant success for constitutional democracy.
He noted that it was a crucial addition to previous successes already recorded in Kwara State against the executive overreach of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led Kwara State Government (KWSG).
The statement read, “ENetSuD noted that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has continued to position itself as the last hope of the citizens and the custodian of our constitutional democracy, which has been successively truncated for personal benefits by Governors and their pendulum State Assemblies across Nigeria, Kwara State being their lead and role model.
“The Supreme Court was publicly reported to have ruled that Governors do not have the power to dissolve democratically-elected LG councils and/or appoint Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) or whatsoever called in place of an elected LG Council.
“The apex court was also said to have outlawed the State Joint Allocation Account through which State governments receive the monies due to the LGs in their states, a great development that has now empowered the FG to make a direct payment of the LG funds to each of the 774 LGAs in Nigeria.
“Another landmark decision of the Supreme Court is the bold declaration that any LG that is not administered by a democratically-elected LG Council should not be paid any allocation by the FG. ENetSuD, being a stakeholder in the conversations on LG autonomy and administration in Kwara state and Nigeria by extension, is impressed by the brilliant display of judicial activism by the Apex Court in the constitutional and public interests.
“ENetSuD commends President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his upright Minister of Justice / Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, for doing what previous successive administrations have failed to do.
“The courage to put an end to the executive rascality of the Governors and the legislative recklessness of their pendulum State Assemblies is a testimony that President Tinubu knows the exact solution to the age-long problem of LG autonomy in Nigeria.
“We are proud of Mr Lateef Fagbemi SAN, being a Kwaran like us, to have successfully led the legal battle that has yielded this glorious and envious destination of freedom for LG administration in Nigeria. He has further put Kwara state on a global map of excellence, scholarship, and uprightness and re-written the bad, shameful history created for Kwara state by Gov. AbdulRahman, who ruled the State for over 5 years without a constitutionally-recognised LG council.
“History will not forget that the Governor was the sole administrator of the 16 LGs for 5 years and he, through his illegal appointees, received and spent all the LG funds for 5 years against the provisions of the laws and the judgments of the Courts.”
The group calls on Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to immediately commence the recovery of all the funds that his government corruptly paid to the illegal TICs across the 16 LGAs of Kwara State when they were corruptly occupying the LG councils.
ENetSuD reminds Gov. AbdulRahman that his frivolous appeal at the Supreme Court to evade justice has now been rendered useless by the latest Supreme Court Judgement.
“Of note is the fact that most of the prayers ENetSuD won at the High and Appeal Courts, which the Governor unconscientiously appealed to the Supreme Court, have now been unambiguously and definitively answered by the Supreme Court in its latest judgment, and of course, against the demands of the Governor but in favour of ENetSuD’s previous successes.
Alagbons, however, charges Kwarans to take the upcoming LG election in September 2024 as a top priority, being an election that will produce Chairmen and Councillors in various LGs that are the closest to the communities.
“We urge Kwarans to vote candidates with high capacity and records of promoting independence, competence, good governance, transparency, and accountability”, he said.
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