The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has cautioned against the violation of the Supreme Court verdict on local government autonomy, vowing to deal with the erring state governors and council officials.
Fagbemi said the Federal Government will not hesitate to initiate contempt proceedings and impeachment against such states while their Attorneys General would be referred to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for misconduct.
He said: “I am aware that some states have embarked on the promulgation of legislations which appear to be antithetical to the tenets or tenor of the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“My simple point is that the states concerned are advised not to tread within the precinct of contempt of court. And, my colleague at the sub-nationals should not also invite the attention of Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for misconduct,” Fagbemi said.
He spoke in Abuja yesterday at the 2024 National Conference of the Abuja chapter of National Association of Judicial Correspondents (NAJUC).
Fagbemi warned governors and council chairmen against tampering with Local Govt funds because of the grave implications.
For governors, Fagbemi said by the July 11 judgment of the Supreme Court, tampering with Local Govt funds amounts to gross misconduct and an impeachable offence.
For the council chairmen who misappropriate or misapply LG funds, he said they would be prosecuted because they do not enjoy immunity in the Constitution.
In his paper, titled: “Aftermath of Supreme Court judgment on Local Government financial autonomy: what next? the AGF said, “by the July 11, 2024 judgment of the Supreme Court, which granted financial autonomy to Local Govts in the country, any governor who tampers with the finances of the LGAs in his state is seen to have committed a gross misconduct, which is an impeachable offence”.
Fagbemi said the suit on which the Supreme Court gave the July 11 judgment was intended to liberate the Local Govts from the strangle hold of the governors and promote development at the grassroots.
He said he was aware of the fear being expressed about the continue influence of the governors on the Local Govts because they still supervise the conduct of LG elections.
He said the Fed Govt was being methodical in its approach to ensuring that the Local Govts are allowed to function as the third level of government as envisaged by the Constitution.
The AGF said: “We are not resting on our oars. If we don’t have any meaningful response, we may also invite the Supreme Court to also look at the Constitution and see whether they should be allowed to continue to conduct LG election in the form that we have presently.
“It does not give anybody any joy to drag any of the sub-nationals to court. Our expectation is that the sub-nationals should allow the law to take its course,” he said.
Fagbemi identified some of the constitutional roles of the Local Govts, urged council chairmen and other officials to prioritize their constitutional duties.
“Primary education must be accessible to every child. Pregnant women and infants must receive quality healthcare, and the vulnerable in the society must benefit from sustainable welfare programmes,” he said
He noted that the financial autonomy granted to local governments by the Supreme Court was designed to empower them to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
He said, any debt incurred by governors, in relation to the official function of state government must be handled by the state, it should not be shared with the local government areas, as such projects are not the constitutional responsibilities of local governments.
Fagbemi added: “It is expected that, having become divorced of the financial dependency on the state government, more people today should be involved in grassroots politics to ensure effective governance from bottom up.”
He said it is the intention of the President Bola Tinubu administration that the dividends of democracy affect everyone irrespective of location and status.
Fagbemi said the time for Nigerians to begin to demand accountability and good governance from all tiers of government is now.