The Senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi, has said that President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly should not be held responsible for the slow implementation of the Supreme Court judgement granting local government financial autonomy almost a year ago.
Karimi stated this while giving account of his stewardship in the last two years in the 10th Senate during a media parley held in Lokoja, Kogi state.
He said President Tinubu’s vision leading to the favourable judgement of the Supreme Court is aimed to free the people from slavery and underdevelopment which started with financial autonomy for the third tier of government.
While urging Nigerians to continue to support the President in his effort to bring good governance close to the people at the grassroots, the lawmaker said that the provisions of Section 235 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, (As Amended) within Chapter 7, Part 1, deals with the finality of determinations by the Supreme Court.
“The law states that no appeal can be made to any other body or person from a decision of the Supreme Court, except for the powers of the President or a state Governor regarding the prerogative of mercy.
“In essence, this section establishes the Supreme Court as the final arbiter of legal disputes within the country, with its decisions being binding and unappealable.
“Without prejudice to the powers of the President or of the Governor of a state with respect to prerogative of mercy, no appeal shall lie with any other body or person(s) to revalidate the already determined matter or dispute by the Supreme Court”
Responding to question on why the Senate has not deemed it fit to give any legislative backing to the Supreme Court judgement of the 11th July, 2024 on local government autonomy, Senator Karimi described the Supreme Court judgement granting full autonomy to the Councils as the President’s card to legally and holistically address the local government challenges once and for all.
“That was why the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation went to Supreme Court to institute that case”, he stated.
He further stressed that “As a means of solving local government problems, the president wants autonomy for local government. If the Federal Government of Nigeria doesn’t want local government autonomy, it wouldn’t have instituted the case in the first place.
“And for us in the National Assembly, we are fully in support of local government autonomy and the steps so far taken to restore proper governance at the local level in Nigeria.
“I don’t want to say much about it before when I came in. But we will talk about it. Local government autonomy must come to stay. It’s not for National Assembly alone but for the good of every Nigerian, therefore, it is a fight for all of us, because if we keep quiet, that autonomy will not stand.
“But if we talk, it will stand. I am not the one who brought this question in. Somebody brought it, but I have to speak to it. And I have to speak the truth always. Some people are not interested in this local government autonomy”.
Senator Karimi noted that the leadership of the National Assembly, including the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, were in full support of the Local Government Autonomy.
He added, “And let me tell you, go and check what is happening there differs from State to State. If you go to some states now, they are already enjoying it.
“I don’t know whether we are enjoying it fully here yet, because I don’t want to be quoted our of context, before somebody will go and tell government that Senator Karimi said they are not doing local government autonomy in Kogi State, but somebody asked the question, and the person has the right to ask the question.
“And we have the right to answer. The President brought about that case to free the people from slavery. That is the interest of President Tinubu.
“Somebody equally asked me, why am I backing President Tinubu. I will back him and I will back him and back him continuously, because the man has the interest of the people. All these hardships we are talking about are not of his own creation, but he has the passion for us to develop or grow to our fullest potential.”
“Before Nigeria can get to the promised land, hardship must come. But it will not last forever, it will go. Let’s free the people from slavery.
Let what belongs to the people go back to the people. That is what the President is out to do by instituting the case on Local Government autonomy in the Supreme Court. And let me tell you, nobody has the power to override that Supreme Court judgment. Anybody that is doing it is doing it at his own peril”.