The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi, SAN, Thursday, warned that henceforth, local government elections conducted without 6 months’ notice would face nullification.
According to the AGF, the government is committed to enthroning sanity at the third tier of governance.
“Any state Governor who fails to give six months’ notice before conducting local government elections will face nullification in courts,” he quoted as saying.
The AGF stated this recently, at the 12th convocation of Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state.
Lately, state governors across the country are reportedly engaging in late minute rushes to conduct local elections without recourse to the law setting up election matters just to meet up with the alleged three-month moratorium
While some states gave up to four months’ notice before the council polls, a good number of governors gave between three weeks and one month’s notice to the election, while some state Houses of Assembly amended the local government laws to suit their masters’ political whims and caprices.
Reacting to the frenzy by governors to conduct local elections as well as on the Supreme Court’s ruling on local government autonomy, Fagbemi denied that there was no truth to reports suggesting that state governors had been granted a three-month moratorium to delay the implementation of the court’s decision.
Fagbemi added: “The ruling ensures the financial autonomy of all 774 local governments,” pointing out that some state governments have scheduled local elections beyond the October deadline and may face legal challenges if their actions do not align with the law.
“Typically, six months’ notice is required for elections, and failing to meet this condition
could result in nullification by the courts,” he said.
