The National Union of Local Government Employees has warned that it wouldn’t rule out seeking redress in court should Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, or other governors introduce bills to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment on direct allocation of funds to Local Government Areas.
The union also called on President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to call Soludo to order over alleged moves to prevent LG funds from being utilized by chairmen for the betterment of the people at the grassroots.
The National President of NULGE, Hakeem Ambali, made this known in response to the reported moves by the Anambra State governor to circumvent the apex court’s judgment granting full administrative and financial autonomy to local councils. “This act of illegality is condemnable and Governor Soludo should be called to order. This is a move to take local government funds,” Ambali said.
“The FG should be proactive and withhold LG funds from such governors. The move by Governor Soludo is an affront to the law of the land. He needs to understand that nobody is above the law. What he is doing is totally against the judgment of the Supreme Court. NULGE thereby calls on the President to call Governor Soludo to order,” Ambali added.
The Anambra State House of Assembly passed the Local Government Administration Bill 2024 on Tuesday amid condemnation from civil society groups and opposition parties, including Labour Party lawmakers in the assembly. They alleged that the bill was an attempt by Soludo to arm-twist the council chairmen into paying their federal allocation back to the state.
The Secretary to the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Emma Madu, confirmed that the assembly passed the bill titled, ‘Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024,’ on Tuesday. Reports indicate that some other state houses of assembly have also enacted similar bills on local government administration.
Henry Mbachu, a member representing Awka South I State Constituency (Labour Party), raised the alarm on Tuesday, urging the governor to withdraw the bill, which he said would allow the state government to share in funds meant for local government councils, potentially undermining their financial independence.
However, Soludo defended the bill, asserting that it did not contravene the Supreme Court’s judgment on local government autonomy. He challenged anyone who believed otherwise to seek redress in court.
In response, Ambali said, “We have not ruled out going to court. We can join the AGF in a suit in court.”
Some state officials of NULGE, who spoke with The PUNCH, however, said there were no signs that governors in their states were also looking at introducing bills to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment on direct allocation of funds to LGs.
“Well, to the best of our knowledge, we have not seen any move of Governor Dapo Abiodun to frustrate the working of the LG autonomy either by opening of another account for the LG funds or otherwise,” a NULGE official in Ogun State, said. “Remember that the national president of NULGE, Akeem Ambali, is from Ogun State, he is very close to the government, so, Ogun State won’t get involved in such illegal act.”
NULGE chairman, Akwa Ibom State chapter, Mrs Anestina Iweh, said she was unaware of any plan by the state government to create a separate account to divert local government funds. “I am not aware of such plan in Akwa Ibom State and I don’t think it will happen,” she said.
In Bayelsa State, the NULGE chairman, Thank-God Singer, said there were no plans by the government to divert FG allocations meant for local government councils. “There’s nothing like that in Bayelsa,” Singer stated.
In May, the Federal Government, represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, filed a lawsuit to challenge the governors’ authority to receive and withhold federal allocations meant for Local Government Areas.
The suit sought to prevent state governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government councils and establishing caretaker committees. The AGF argued that the constitution mandated a democratically elected local government system and did not allow alternative governance structures.
The Supreme Court, on July 11, 2024, gave a landmark judgment affirming the financial autonomy of the 774 LGs in the country, asserting that governors could no longer control funds meant for the councils.
The seven-member Supreme Court panel, led by Justice Garba Lawal, held that it was illegal and unconstitutional for governors to manage and withhold LG funds.
The apex court also directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay LG allocations directly to their accounts, as it declared the non-remittance of funds by the 36 states unconstitutional