Govs frustrating June takeoff of LG autonomy with sack of chairmen, councillors?
Barely one week after their inaugurations, some state governors and their yet to be dissolved House of Assembly members are colluding to sack local government chairmen and councillors without recourse to rule of law.
In line with the new law which returned Local Government financial autonomy, councils are to receive their federal allocations directly from the FAAC without any form of hijack by their state government. But analysts are of the fear that with the spate of removal of chairmen by some governors, the financial autonomy may not work after all.
For example, in Imo State, the House of Assembly sacked all LGA Chairmen and Councillors and called on the new Governor, Emeka Ihedioha to revoke where necessary all lands grabbed by his predecessor, Mr Rochas Okorocha.
Apart from Imo State, new Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde also sacked Local Government chairmen just like the Plateau State Governor, Mr Simon Lalong did few days ago.
Already, some legal minds were debating over the actions of the Legislators as many described the removal of the chairman as illegality; others were of the view that the elections that produced the present LG Executive were product of illegality even though there had been no court pronouncement to that effect.
The House also announced the suspension of all promotions of Permanent Secretaries, done by immediate past government under Okorocha and adjourned seating till 6th June for valedictory closure.
In Cross Rivers State, returning Governor Ben Ayade, has recalled all properties including cars which sacked and retired government workers and appointees left with running up to 78 in number.
Recall that Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had in April eased out 12 LG chairmen for not attending state function and replaced them with appointees.
In December, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled and voided laws enacted by the states’ Houses of Assembly which allow governors to sack elected Chairmen of Local Governments and Councillors and replace them appointed administrators.
It has of recent become a tradition among governors to dissolve the Executive Councils of the states’ LGs and replace them with their appointees, who they call caretaker committees. In a unanimous judgement of five Justices of the Supreme Court described the practice as “executive recklessness”, which must not be allowed to persist.
The judgment by the five-man panel, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour was on the appeal in relation to the dissolution of the 16 Local Government Executives in Ekiti State, during Kayode Fayemi’s tenure.
The appeal marked:SC/120/2013 was filed by the Ekiti State Government. It had Prince Sanmi Olubunmo (Chairman of Ido Osi LG and Chairman of Association of Local Government’s of Nigeria – ALGON, Ekiti Chapter and 13 others as respondents. Fayemi, now Minister of Mineral Resources reportedly announced the dissolution of the councils in a radio announcement on October 29, 2010, when the elected council officials still had up till December 19, 2011 to end their three-year tenure.
The Supreme Court, in faulting the law purportedly relied on by Fayemi, held that Section 23(b) of the Ekiti State Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law, 2001, which empowered the governor to dissolve local government councils, whose tenure was yet to expire, violated section 7(1) of the Constitution from which the state House of Assembly derived the power to enact the local government law.
