Former Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has criticized the Federal Government’s legal case against states over local government autonomy.
Okupe, who previously served as a Presidential spokesperson, shared his views in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Sunday. He described the Federal Government’s legal battle against the states for local government autonomy as unnecessary and regrettable.
Okupe, who also held the position of National Publicity Secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), explained his stance by emphasizing the principles of a true federal system. According to him, in such a system, there are only two main components: the federal government and the states.
“We should run a true federal system in which there are two bodies coming together for a union: the Federal Government and sub-nationalities,” Okupe stated. “The local governments are principally and completely issues of the state, it absolutely has nothing to do with the federal government and it (the idea of LG as a third tier) should be expunged from the constitution.”
He continued, “Let the nation’s money be shared between the Federal Government and the states. The Federal Government asking for local government autonomy in a federal system is an aberration. It is becoming so sad that we seem not to know what is right and what is wrong in the country.”
Okupe argued that state governments should have the authority to establish as many local governments as they see fit for grassroots development and fund them as they choose. “Then, the state government can decide to have as many local governments as it desires for grassroots development and fund it as they like,” he said.
The context of Okupe’s remarks stems from a recent legal action taken by the Federal Government against the governors of the 36 states of the federation. The case, filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, seeks full autonomy for all local government areas in the country.
The Federal Government’s lawsuit specifically requests the Supreme Court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from unilaterally and unlawfully dissolving democratically elected local government leaders. Additionally, the suit seeks to ensure that funds allocated to local governments are directly channelled to them from the federation account, in accordance with constitutional provisions, rather than through the allegedly unlawful joint accounts created by governors.
The Federal Government also requested the Supreme Court to stop governors from further appointing caretaker committees to manage local government affairs, in violation of the constitutionally guaranteed democratic system. Furthermore, it applied for an injunction to prevent governors, their agents, and associates from receiving, spending, or tampering with funds allocated to local governments when no democratically elected local government system is in place.