Implement Supreme Court judgment on LG autonomy, ex- commissioner tells governors

A former Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Mr Oluwaseun Abimbola, has advised the Oyo State government to obey the supreme court judgment granting fiscal autonomy to Local Governments Areas (LGAs).

Abimbola, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday.

He was reacting to the decision by the Oyo State government to review the judgment and take an action that is suitable to its desire.

He also urged other states in the federation not to act contrary to the supreme court judgment on the issue of financial autonomy for LGAs.

“For any sub-national like a state or local government to say that it would act contrary to the supreme court judgment is absolutely wrong.

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“The constitution states that you have to abide by any decision made by the apex court.

“In fact, the state too, can have its own law that people can disagree with, but they must obey it. That is democracy.

Governor Seyi Makinde

“The states should know that they can not own disobey the judgment.

“Rather, the court may find reasons to do so on its own because we have had instances in the past where the supreme court came back to overrule itself on some decisions,” Abimbola said.

Also, an Ibadan based human rights lawyer, Mr Olatunde Fatola, described the alleged move by the Oyo State government to review the pronouncement as laughable.

Fatola said that the idea was a self mockery, because the supreme court judgment was binding on all persons and authorities.

“It is funny that LGAs, especially in Oyo State, are saying that they want to continue to sublet their autonomy to the state government, even when the supreme court’s decision has freed them.

“In my view, our nascent democracy will be portrayed as being useless among the committee of nations if some states are allowed to review the judgement of the apex court.

“The LGAs should have been the ones to file the suit, but the Federal Government eventually did.

“I have it on good authority that a minimum of N347 million ought to be given to each LGA on monthly basis to run their affairs, but they only receive N12 million,” he said.

NAN recalls that the 33 council chairmen in Oyo State have exited the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) over the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to LGAs.

In a communique signed by all the chairmen, they unanimously declared their unalloyed support for the state governor, Seyi Makinde.