LG Autonomy: APC Hails Tinubu, Supreme Court

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed President Bola Tinubu and the Supreme Court justices following Thursday’s judgment granting local government autonomy.

APC said it took President Tinubu’s ingenuity and commitment towards grassroots development to deepen democracy in the local governments.

In a statement by its Na­tional Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, APC said the ruling of the Supreme Court gave physical expression to constitutional recognition of local governments as independent third tier of the federation

APC added that the ruling by Justice Emmanuel Agim-led seven-man panel was a definitive decision, taken with courage, on a vexed national issue.

The ruling party said the local government autonomy was a significant stride to restructuring of Nigeria since its fourth republic.

The statement read in part: “This decision signifies a historic moment in the consoli­dation of democratic federalism in our country. It gives practical expression to constitutional rec­ognition of local government councils as the third tier of gov­ernment. It constitutes single most significant stride towards restructuring Nigeria since the country’s return to civilian dem­ocratic rule in 1999.

“The Justice Emmanuel Agim-led seven-man panel also upheld the position of the federal government that state governors lack authority under the law to arbitrarily dissolve democrati­cally-elected local governments councils and set up caretaker committees in their place as ubiquitously practiced.

“We applaud the Supreme Court for justifying itself, and for its courage in rendering a definitive decision on this vexed national issue. The clarity that it brings will, no doubt, spur further reform for effectiveness, transparency and accountability of local government administra­tion in the country.”

On President Tinubu, the APC added: “We commend the ingenuity, vision and commit­ment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu towards deepening de­mocracy and turning the local government councils into po­tential strongholds for develop­ment and more efficient service delivery to the populations at the grassroots.”