George: LG Autonomy Foretaste to Full Restructuring

*Without constitutional amendment, it’s a joke, says Duke; Oyo APC knocks Makinde 

*Afenifere, Bauchi senator hail judgment

Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja, Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi and Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, yesterday, described the autonomy granted the 774 local governments in Nigeria as a pathway to full restructuring of the country.

But a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke as warned that any such autonomy without an amendment to the constitution was a joke.
Also, the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has berated Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of the state over his open condemnation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Supreme Court in what it termed apparent protest against the Apex Court’s verdict.
This was as Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has commended the federal government and the judiciary over last Thursday’s ruling that affirmed local governments’ right to the fund accruing to them from the federation account.

At the same time, the Senator representing Bauchi South Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Umar Buba, has welcomed the Supreme Court judgement.
However, George a life bencher of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT)  commended the Supreme Court on its verdict on Local Government autonomy, stating that the judiciary “once again, proved that it is the last hope of the common man.”
He described the judgement of the apex court as very courageous as the judiciary has once again proved that it was the last hope of the common man
“Thursday’s Supreme Court judgement stopping state governments from retaining and using funds meant for the third tier of government – councils – is not only victory for democracy but a big boost for Nigeria’s political and economic development.
“The apex court was precise and unambiguous in its verdict: Allocations to Local Governments must be paid directly from the Federation Account to councils governed by democratically elected officials.

”The judiciary has, once again, proved that it is the last hope of the common man. This courageous verdict from the apex court will have far-reaching implications for the growth of democracy in world’s most populous black country and Africa’s biggest democracy,” he said.
But Duke thought the Supreme Court judgement could only be effective with a constitutional amendment.
He contended that, according to the constitution, local government elections must be conducted by the states, making local governments fall under state jurisdiction.
Duke expressed reservations about the Supreme Court’s decision, saying, “For the judgement to be effective, we need a constitutional amendment.”
He questioned whether local governments were truly federating units and argued that they should be governed by state laws, as they were creations of the states.

Duke pointed out that the constitution defined the responsibilities of federal and state governments but did not clearly outline the role of local governments, stressing that local governments should exist but remain under state guidance.
National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Jare Ajayi, in a statement, recalled that the federal government, had in May instituted a case at the Supreme Court seeking a stoppage to governors holding the local government councils in their areas by the jugular.
Ajayi  clarified that local governments getting their allocations directly from the federation account did not mean that they were attached to the apron of the federal government.
“Afenifere salutes the federal government under President Bola Tinubu for instituting this case, salutes the judiciary for the landmark judgement and congratulates Nigerians because the ruling is returning control to them as against the prevailing situation which the governors have been manipulating to deprive the people of control at the local level,” he said.

But the Oyo State APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, urged Makinde to desist from actions and utterances capable of portraying the  state in bad light in the face of the global community as well as those working assiduously for the country to get it right in the area of functional democracy, adherence to the dictates of the rule of law and delivery of good governance to the citizenry.
He said the outburst of the governor in a video which went viral at the weekend gave him out as selfish, clueless and anti-people, stating that the same judgement he was protesting had received the wide applause of the generality of the people across the country and even beyond.

Senator Buba, in a statement personally signed, stated that, “It is heart warming and highly commendable the judgement delivered recently by the Supreme Court of Nigeria granting financial autonomy to local government councils in the country.

“For many reasons, this is really a welcome development and one which all lovers of democracy as well as proponents of impactful leadership and purposeful governance at the council level will find very pleasing.”