The Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, has said that the forum welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court granting autonomy to local government areas.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Federal Government, seeking to grant full autonomy and direct funding to all 774 local government councils in the country.
Abdul Razak accompanied by the Chairman, of the All Progressives Congress Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, and the Chairman, of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, Dr Bala Mohammed, made the remark while addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He added that compliance with the verdict is guaranteed, saying “our Attorney General has applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.”
AbdulRazaq said his government in Kwara State had never tampered with local government funds.
AbdulRazaq said the forum would meet next Wednesday to look into issues of states where local government elections are yet to be conducted.
The Supreme Court declared on Thursday that it is unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.
The seven-man panel, in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
The apex court held that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.
The court further declared that a state government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a local government council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
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