Ohanaeze Alerts FG, Says Governors Are Arm-twisting Local Government Autonomy

Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called on the federal government to impose stringent penalties on any governor abusing their position to browbeat or siphon funds allocated to local councils.

The body implored President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take decisive action by withholding local government allocations from any state that persisted in these unlawful practices commencing from this month.

In a statement by the Secretary General of the organisation, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the body revealed that governors had colluded to subvert every resource meant for the development of the local areas in the country.

“It is a tragic irony that these custodians of our collective governance are using their offices as instruments of oppression – effectively brutalising the 774 local government areas and sapping them of their financial independence and operational integrity.

“The recent judicial mandate by the Supreme Court, which unequivocally granted full administrative and financial autonomy to local councils, is being flouted with impunity.

“Such conduct is a derision of the foundational tenets of our democratic framework, which relies on the co-equal functioning of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of government.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo cannot remain silent in the face of this monumental fraud being perpetrated through the brazen manipulation of the local government system.

“The imposition of puppet Chairmen, the controlling influence exerted via state-run electoral commissions, and the alarming emergence of legislation aimed at circumventing Supreme Court decisions are assaults that must be met with resolute resistance,” it stated..

Citing recent actions of the Anambra State House of Assembly, which culminated in the passage of the “Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024,” Ohanaeze said it served as a glaring example of “legislative madness”.

According to it, “This law seeks not to empower local governance, but rather to entrench a system of coercion, compelling local governments to remit federal allocations to accounts beholden to state authorities.”