Rights group asks Nigerian governors to conduct LG elections

Committee For the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) Nigeria, has asked governors to conduct local government elections immediately in their respective states.

The pro-democracy group noted that Nigerians have suffered a lot in the hands of state governors who have turned local government allocations to their private wealth, remitting peanuts to the stooges they appointed as caretaker chairmen while using them as tools to deny the grassroots development and accountability.

The organization maintained that enthroning democratically elected government in local councils would bring governance closer to the grassroots and bolster the nation’s democratic fabric.

The group equally commended the Attorney General of the Federation for filing the suit for local government autonomy.

“The judgement of the supreme court favouring the local government autonomy is fantastic.

“Any state governor that didn’t call for conduct of the local government election in his state immediately should be seen as the enemy of the citizens in that state,” CDHR said.

DAILY POST reported that the Supreme Court had on Thursday mandated the Federal Government to begin immediate and direct payment of local government funds to their exclusive accounts.

The apex court faulted the state governments’ decades-long refusal to grant financial autonomy to local governments.