…say they risk impeachment
- It’s fight to the finish – NULGE
Three Senior Advocates of Nigeria have warned that state governors violating the autonomy of local government councils risk impeachment.
The three senior lawyers, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, Dr. Kanyinsola Ajayi and Chief Mike Ozekhome, spoke with The Point against the backdrop of claims that state governors across the country have turned the 774 councils to mere appendages of government after allegedly cornering their monthly allocations from the Federal treasury.
Investigations have revealed that currently, LGs in no fewer than 13 states are practically gasping for breath as the governors allegedly exercise over-bearing influence on them, rendering them almost comatose.
Only recently, the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, sacked all the 18 council chairmen in his state after an Akure High Court annulled their election.
Findings by The Point across the country also indicated that most of the state governors had not shown genuine interest in conducting elections into the local government councils just as stakeholders accused them of preferring the caretaker committee or sole administrator arrangement.
But the National Union of Local Government Employees has vowed to ensure the restoration of autonomy to the councils.
The three SANs, Akinboye, Ajayi and Ozekhome, who spoke with The Point in separate interviews on the matter from the viewpoint of the law, described the attitude of the governors towards the councils as unconstitutional and capable of incurring the wrath of the law.
According to them, any governor inhibiting the local government councils in his state from functioning properly risks being removed from office.
They stated that running the local government councils with caretaker committees or sole administrators was a clear demonstration of the governors’ disregard and lack of respect for the rule of law.
According to Akinboye, the “attitude of the governors is an abnormality in the sense that the Constitution stipulates categorically that the local government is supposed to be autonomous to an extent.”
“There are some levels of autonomy that the local government should possess that are in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If the state government deprives them, then the state government should be blamed if they don’t perform their duties in accordance with the Constitution. Moreover, any state government doing this is risking the wrath of the law,” he said.
Ajayi, on his part, said, “The breach of the Constitution by any governor is an impeachable offence. And that is the only thing you can do to a governor. You can only impeach a governor; you can’t sue him or try him. Our Constitution respects elections at the three levels of government; so nobody should be frustrating that process. Anyone that tries to change this to suit his purpose is risking impeachment.
“Several governors have been impeached in this country, when they were found culpable of offences. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was impeached. Dariye was impeached and Nyako was impeached. So, you can’t say a governor can’t be impeached. He can be impeached if he goes against the Constitution in his dealings. The President in Korea also has just recently been impeached. So, nobody is above the law.”
But constitutional lawyer, Ozekhome, added another dimension, maintaining that even the citizens could challenge the governors on the matter in court.
According to him, the position of the law over the infringed autonomy of the local government councils around the country is that, for any setting to be called a local government council, it must be democratically set up.
He explained, “The 1999 Constitution guarantees the existence of the democratically elected local government in Nigeria. The phrase ‘democratically elected’ is the most important phrase in that position. Of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, none of them can come into existence without (the executives) being democratically elected.
“That means the position of caretaker committees being appointed by the governors, or interim management, is constitutional anathema in Nigeria. Any governor that imposes caretaker or any other thing on local government area is committing an illegal and unconstitutional act, and such can be challenged by any citizen in the court of law.”
An impeccable source in the local government setting, who spoke with The Point, noted that, apart from their alleged interest in the allocation to the LGs from the Federation Account, “most governors want to control the councils in order to maintain their grip on people at the grassroots to ensure a sustained and continued display of loyalty from the locals as well as to guarantee victory at the polls at all times.”
This is said to be responsible for the state governors’ preference for the appointment of sole administrators or caretaker committees to man the councils.
It was also gathered that the governors deliberately delayed elections at the council level till a period their victory was assured.
On the other hand, findings revealed that a few of the states, which appeared to have conducted council elections, did so with the ruling parties winning all the chairmanship and councillorship seats in the state.
even the citizens could challenge the governors on the matter in court. the position of the law over the infringed autonomy of LGS is that, for any setting to be called a local government council, it must be democratically set up
LAGOS
For instance, in Lagos State, there have been intrigues engendering uncertainties over the planned council elections.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode inherited caretaker committees across the 20 LGAs and 37 Local Council Development Areas. The tenure of LG chairmen in the state expired before former Governor Babatunde Fashola left office.
“But instead of conducting elections, executive secretaries were appointed. Ambode has retained the Executive Secretaries in spite of the strong view of the opposition that the continued administration of councils in the state by caretaker committees is illegal and unconstitutional. The Executive Secretaries spent one year and six months in office before they were sacked in June last year. The governor appointed sole administrators for the LGs and LCDAs, claiming that their appointment was a prelude to the conduct of the elections. However, five months after, the conduct of the LG poll in Lagos is still uncertain,” a former local government boss in Lagos, who asked not to be named, said.
NASARAWA
The story is not different in Nasarawa State, where the government has claimed that its inability to conduct council polls since the expiration of the tenure of the former council is due to lack of funds.
The former LG chairmen rushed to court to elongate their tenure from two to three years. But the court dismissed the case a day before the expiration of their tenure.
The government had hitherto relaxed on the issue of conducting the election, pending the outcome of the case. But when the judgment was delivered, it opted for the sole administrator arrangement.
ENUGU
Also, in Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was said to have repeatedly told the people that his inability to conduct election into the 17 LGA councils was due to scarcity of funds. The LGAs are being manned by Transition Committee Chairmen, a development that has not gone down well with many citizens of the state, particularly those interested in contesting the election.
EDO
In Edo State, several months after the tenure of the elected council chairmen expired, the government has yet to call for another election. Since the LG elected chairmen left office last year, the heads of service in the 18 LGAs have been in charge of administration.
OYO
Governor Abiola Ajimobi inaugurated the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission in 2016, in preparation for the conduct of council elections almost 10 years after a similar exercise took place in the state. But in April 2017, the governor appointed chairmen of caretaker committees of Local Council Development Areas in Oyo State. The matter is still generating controversies across the state.
ABIA
In Abia State, after over four years of agitation, LG polls were conducted in December 2016 with the ruling party claiming victory in all the 17 local government councils. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was alleged to have singlehandedly chosen the council chairmen.
GOMBE
For about two years, the 11 LGAs in Gombe State were run by caretaker committees instead of elected chairmen. The last council election was held in February 2013, after pressure from opposition parties. After their tenure expired in March 2015, they were appointed as caretaker committee chairmen to continue to steer the affairs of the LGAs pending the elections. However, following the expiration of the constitutional six months period in September 2015, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo changed them and brought in another batch of politicians, who also took over as caretaker chairmen.
EKITI
In Ekiti state, Governor Ayodele Fayose, and his party, the PDP, cleared all the 16 council chairmanship seats as well as all the councillorship positions in the election conducted last year.
RIVERS
In Rivers State, the 23 LGAs are being run by caretaker chairmen. The chairmen, who were elected in the twilight of the Chibuike Amaechi administration, were removed from office by Governor Nyesom Wike after a long drawn legal battle. As soon as they were removed, Wike appointed caretaker committee chairmen in their stead.
SOKOTO
In Sokoto State, the council election recently conducted were cleared by the ruling APC.
IMO
After his election as Imo State Governor in 2011, Chief Rochas Okorocha sacked the 27 elected chairmen and 305 councillors in the state with the intention of conducting fresh polls. The affected PDP chairmen approached the court to nullify the decision of the governor since their tenure had yet to expire. And since 2011, the elected chairmen have been locked in a legal battle with the state government. While the matter remains in the Court of Appeal, the governor has continued to appoint and re-appoint caretaker committee chairmen.
KOGI
The 25 LGAs in Kogi State are also being run by sole administrators appointed by Governor Yahaya Bello. The governor had, on May 6, 2016, inaugurated the administrators, following the expiration of the tenure of the elected council chairmen. The Director-General, Media and Publicity, to the Governor, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, said conducting elections was a capital-intensive project, which the government could not afford in view of the prevailing economic recession.
BENUE
In Benue State, the LG election, earlier scheduled for September last year by the state Independent Electoral Commission, was cancelled. Governor Samuel Ortom also attributed the cancelation to insufficient funds as a result of the financial hardship facing the state. The government recently appointed 23 sole administrators after it had exhausted other options of caretaker chairmen, who held sway for two tenures of six months each, with the directors of local government administration coming on board afterwards.
BAUCHI
Also in Bauchi State, Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar is handling the affairs of the 20 LGAs with the caretaker committee chairmen sworn in late last year.
KWARA
Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, approved the constitution of Transition Implementation Committees for the 16 LGAs. The approval followed the dissolution of the councils’ officials on November 4 2016, before the expiration of their tenure on November 10.
Tough luck for LGs
With this abnormal development at the local government council level, findings by The Point revealed that billions of naira, belonging to the LGs, had reportedly been pilfered. The 20 per cent allocation, which the Constitution granted the LGAs is allegedly now being shared as deemed fit by erring state governments through the State Local Government Joint Accounts.
For instance, in December 2016, a total of N400 billion was disbursed between the federal, state and local government councils.
The shared amount comprised the month’s statutory distributable revenue of N224.883 billion, Value Added Tax of N79.273 billion, Exchange gain of N52.842 billion and Excess PPT Account of N42.998 billion.
There was also a N6.330 billion refund to the Federal Government by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
From the Net Statutory revenue, the Federal Government received N105.762 billion (52.68%), states got N53.644 billion (26.72%), LGAs received N41.357 billion (20.60%), while the oil producing states received N15.504 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
Furthermore, from the revenue available from the Value Added Tax, the Federal Government received N11.415 (15%), states received N38.051 billion (50%), while the LGAs got N26.636 (35%). Despite this, most of the LGAs across the nation, in January 2017, complained of not being funded as the state governments were accused of sitting on their allocations.
It’s fight to the finish -NULGE
The Secretary, NULGE, Abia State, Mr. Afolabi Abayomi, told The Point that there was no going back on the union’s determination to fight for the autonomy of the councils in the country.
Abayomi said the union had already tasked the National Assembly on the need to amend the 1999 Constitution to guarantee the autonomy of the third tier of government. He said, “Our own position is that, first, the National Assembly is already on course concerning the constitution amendments and the local government issues in the 1999 Constitution. In Nigeria, local governments are seen as mere parastatals and they (governors) don’t see them as an arm of government.
“These problems come from the fact that state governments are the ones that conduct LG elections, whereas, the elections are supposed to be taken away from the state governments and given to INEC alone. The SIECs should allow INEC to conduct all the elections in Nigeria and to conduct thorough and peaceful local government elections.”
Asked if there was any court judgement that had stopped the state governments’ alleged infractions against the LGs, Afolabi said, “There are about three court judgements restricting the states, but they have refused. For instance, we had judgements in our favour in 1999, 2002 and 2006. “With the situation of things, the local governments are now unable to function at all because they have been hijacked by the states for their own use and manipulation.”
Local govt workers now idle
The Point’s findings showed that, with the virtual running of the LGs by the state governments, most council workers across the country now have little or nothing to do in their various offices.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that at the Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, only one-third of the workers at the secretariat report on a daily basis.
“Since they don’t have what they are doing, they are now idle. If you come to Odogbolu here, you will see that most of them don’t even come to the secretariat anymore, and the few ones that do will only come and leave by 12 noon,” a reliable source said.
At Iseyin Local Government in Oyo State, our correspondent also learnt that workers’ morale was relatively low due to the poor state of affairs at the council. The same applies to other local government councils in many of the six geo-political zones of the country.
Citizens lament
Meanwhile, citizens at the grassroots have complained of neglect by the councils.
“We longer feel the impact of the local government councils in this country. All the benefits we used to enjoy in those days are gone. In those days, it was the councils we knew because they were close to us. But now, we do not have that anymore,” a resident of Ibafo in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Chief Oyetola Fatai, said.
Similarly, Bankefa Kehinde, a resident of Palmgrove, Lagos, said, “Though the APC government in Lagos is trying, we at the grassroots do not feel much impact. Look at our street, how deteriorated it is. The state government only focuses on the highways, and that alone does not help us. Look at our health centres, what do we have there? To me, the state government cannot do all. The local governments should be given autonomy to run government at the grassroots.”
