PeakNews OnlineThe pan-Yoruba socio-political association, Afenifere, has criticized the Supreme Court’s recent judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria.
The ruling, issued on Thursday, declared it unconstitutional for state governors to withhold funds allocated to local government administrations. The court also stated that state governments have no authority to appoint caretaker committees, affirming that only democratically elected local government councils are constitutionally recognized.
In a statement released on Saturday by its leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and the National Public Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, Afenifere described the Supreme Court judgment as a “judicial conspiracy.”
The statement, titled “Tinubu and the Grand Conspiracy Against Democracy and True Federalism in Nigeria,” asserted that the judgment contradicts the principles of true federalism. Afenifere accused the Supreme Court of pandering to populism rather than upholding constitutional federal principles, which recognize only a two-tier federal structure consisting of the central government and federating states.
“Afenifere views the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case filed by the Federal Government on the so-called local government autonomy as a sheer judicial conspiracy in cahoots with the Tinubu administration against the Nigerian state and its foundational principles of federalism,” the statement read. “Rather than interpret the constitution to uphold its elementary but overriding federal principle, the Supreme Court played to the gallery and wittingly allowed itself a most retrogressive declaration that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state, and the local government.”
The group emphasized that, according to Section 2 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, Nigeria is a federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital Territory. While condemning corruption and misuse of public funds at all levels of government, Afenifere strongly opposed any federal manipulation of the federation account to subjugate the states and their constitutional roles, including the local government system.
Afenifere further alleged that the current administration, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been practicing a unitary system through some of its policies. They pointed to the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development as part of a unitary agenda, describing it as a re-introduction of controversial policies such as cattle colonies and RUGA, which they claim contravene the Land Use Act and the Constitution.
“It is becoming stridently eloquent that with just over a year of its inauguration, the Tinubu government, more than even the military administrations, is uncannily determined to unitarise the Nigerian Federation,” the statement continued. “Part of the unitary package is the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development which is the audacious euphemism for the re-introduction of cattle colony, RUGA, and those other policies by which the Buhari administration sought to appropriate lands in the states.”
Afenifere concluded that the only solution for Nigeria is a holistic restructuring to re-establish the principles of true federalism as agreed by the founding fathers. They insisted that the local government system should remain an exclusive preserve of the states, governed by direct constitutional provisions or residual powers within a federation.
Joe
