LGA Autonomy: Appointment Of Caretaker Committees Is Illegal And Unconstitutional – Supreme Court Rules
Dez Mayorz News.
The Supreme Court has declared that the collection of local government funds by state governments is unconstitutional.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered the ruling.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, gave this verdict while delivering judgment in the suit marked: SC/CV/343/2024, which was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN against the 36 state governors seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.
The court’s decision sets a precedent, stating that states’ retention of funds from the federation accounts on behalf of local governments is a violation of the Constitution.
The federal government had argued that the constitution grants local governments autonomy and that states’ interference with their funds is illegal. The 36 states, on the other hand, had opposed the suit, urging the court to dismiss it.
The Supreme Court thereby dismissed all preliminary objections in the suit.
Below are some of the details of the rulings.
1. Allocations are to be paid directly to Local Government Councils immediately ~Supreme Court.
2. The Section of the Constitution for joint allocations automatically got deleted without the NASS Amendment.
3. Appointment of Caretaker committees is illegal and unconstitutional, no governor has any powers to appoint any CTC ~Supreme Court.
4. State governors have constituted themselves as dangerous species to the development of democracy ~Supreme Court.
Details later
