By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has commended the Supreme Court over its judgement, declaring that the sack of elected local government chairmen and councillors by state goverors, as well as appointment and use of caretaker administrators, was illegal.
This nation’s apex court’s decision has served as further boost for the Speaker’s agitation for the council’s autonomy and his stance that state governors “do not have the constitutional right to sack duly elected local government officials”.
The Supreme Court judgment delivered by the five-man panel, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, in the case of the appeal against the dissolution of the 16 local government executives in Ekiti state, during Kayode Fayemi’s tenure, described the practice as “executive recklessness”, which must not be allowed to persist.
Dogara in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan said: “State governors have a constitutional responsibility to act according to the dictates of the judgement, as Nigeria is a nation of laws and not of men.
“The National Assembly will undoubtedly, intervene legislatively to solve this problem. Already, clauses granting financial autonomy to both local councils and State Houses of Assembly are being considered by the National Assembly in the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise.
“The proposals includes denying federal allocation to local governments that do not have democratically elected council officials. In the interim, the Federal Ministry of Finance should be guided by the Supreme Court decision which makes it illegal to release Federation Account funds to an unelected Council”.
The Speaker had earlier in a recent interview described the state-local government joint account practice as “evil”, urging state legislators to move against governors, who refused to conduct council polls, as well as hijack their funds.
