17th July 2024
Following Thursday’s Supreme Court judgement which prohibited federal allocation to council being administered by caretaker committees, no fewer than 13 states have fixed dates for Local Government elections.
The states that have commenced local government poll preparations include Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi, Katsina, Osun, Enugu, Benue, Rivers, Jigawa, Imo, Kebbi, Abia, and Anambra states.
On Tuesday, the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission scheduled the council poll for October 19, 2024.
READ MORE; BREAKING: Supreme Court grants LGs financial autonomy
Electoral commission postpones Ondo LG election indefinitely
The Supreme Court had declared it unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for the local government councils.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the seven-man panel held that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.
The court delivered the landmark judgment in suit: SC/CV/343/2024, filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) against the 36 state governors.
The AGF had sued the state governors through their respective state attorneys-general.
The apex court declared that the government is divided into three tiers: federal, state, and local governments.
The court further declared that a state government had no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a local government council was only recognisable with a democratically elected government.
“A democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,’’ the apex court declared, putting an end to the practice of appointing caretaker committees to run the councils by the state governors.
The court further asserted that the use of a caretaker committee by the state governments to administer the local government violated the 1999 Constitution.
The Supreme Court further affirmed that the local government areas should be governed by a democratically elected government but “The state by the abuse of their power has worked against this law.”
The court declared that the 36 state governors had no power to dissolve democratically elected local government councils to replace them with caretaker committees.
“Such an act is unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void,’’ Agim stated.
The apex court barred the state governors from receiving, retaining or spending the local government allocation.
It said the practice of receiving and retaining local government funds by the states had gone on for too long, describing it as a clear violation of section 162 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The court held that the 1999 Constitution states that any money leaving the federation account must be distributed to the three tiers of government.
It added that it is the local government administrations that should receive and manage funds meant for the local councils.
Agim declared, “I hold that the state’s retention of the local government funds is unconstitutional.
“Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law. It is the position of this court that the federation can pay LGA allocations to the LGAs directly or pay them through the states.
“In this case, since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs.”
Following the verdict which was widely applauded, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Wale Edun, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) were reported to have scheduled a meeting for Tuesday 16 July, 2024 with the Federal Accounts and Allocation Committee officials to discuss the implementation of the apex court verdict.
In obedience to the supreme court judgement, Kaduna state has announced date for the council poll, at a meeting with political parties and other stakeholders, the Kaduna SIECOM Chairperson, Hajara Mohammed, explained that the current council officials members were sworn into office on November 1, 2021, and would end their three-year tenure on October 31, 2024 and have therefore fixed Saturday, 19th October 2024, between 8am and 4pm it local government poll.
Similarly, the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission also announced October 19 for the local government election across the state.
Addressing a stakeholders’ meeting in Lokoja on Tuesday, the Chairman of the electoral commission, Mamman Eri, said the decision was in line with the provision of the Constitution and the powers vested in the state Independent Electoral Commission.
Also, the Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission has fixed August 19 for the local government elections in the state.
The Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Ahmad Makama, who disclosed this at a news conference on Tuesday in Bauchi, said all necessary arrangements had been concluded to ensure free and fair elections.
Makama said the commission had organised a series of meetings with political parties, security chiefs and relevant stakeholders, as part of the election preparations.
In the same vein, Katsina, Kebbi, and Benue have also set machinery in motion to conduct the local council polls.
Council poll will take place in Enugu on October 5, while Benue will conduct the council poll on November 16.
Others are Kebbi, August 31; Rivers, October 5; Kwara and Imo, September 21.
Katsina has announced February, while Osun will conduct the poll on February 22, 2025.
However, the preparation for the council election in Ondo State has been put on hold
Chairman Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Joseph Aremo, who Announced this on Monday, regretted that no single political party complied with the guidelines of the proposed election, despite the issuance of guidelines for the election.
That would be the second time the commission would postpone the election earlier fixed for February and later shifted to July 2024.
