- Warns: It’s Conspiracy to Harm Nigeria, Undermine National Stability…
By Abiola Olawale
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere, has strongly lashed the judgment of the Supreme Court which granted financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria.
According to Afenifere which is the umbrella body of all Yoruba, the verdict of the Supreme Court is a significant setback to the principles of federalism.
The Afenifere body which was encapsulated in a statement jointly signed by the leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and its National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, warned that the judgment has inflicted substantial harm on the Nigerian state.
The body which described the apex court ruling as a “judicial conspiracy” in collusion with the Bola Tinubu-led administration, is intended to “undermine federalism and national stability.”
The statement reads in part: “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.
“Rather than interpret the constitution to uphold its elementary but overriding federal principle which recognises only a two-tier federal structure of the central government and federating states, 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.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, Afenifere makes bold to say that in line with its negotiated basis of existence, Nigeria is a ‘Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory’. as affirmed by Section 2 (2) of the 1999 constitution. While Afenifere frowns at corruption and misuse of public funds at levels of government, it condemns in most unmistaken terms the subjugation of the states and their constitutional roles including the local government system to the whims and caprices of the federal government by any means including obvious manipulation of the federation account as in the present case.”
The Pan-Yoruba organization also alleged that the ongoing administration of Tinubu had been practising a unitary system in some of its policies since its inception, warning that the only way forward for the country was to practice true federalism.
It added: “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.
“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 contrary to the provisions of the Land Use Act and the Constitution which vest land in the state in the Governor in trust for the people.
“Afenifere insists that the way forward for Nigeria is not the confusing rudderless tinkering but a holistic restructuring of the polity to re-enact the fundamental principles of true federalism as agreed by the founding fathers. This includes the fact that the local government system is an exclusive preserve of the states, either by direct constitutional provisions or residual powers in a federation,” the group submitted.
The New Diplomat reports that the apex court had on Thursday declared that the various state governments’ collection of funds meant for local government areas (LGAs) is unconstitutional. A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered the ruling.
Justice Emmanuel Agim gave this verdict while delivering judgment in the suit marked: SV/CV/343/2024, which was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, against the 36 state governors seeking full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.
