By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Attorney General of the Federal (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has condemned the illegal removal of LG bosses by state governors stressing that such action is treasonable offence.
Fagbemi spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during the opening ceremony of an event organised by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).
Fagbemi, represented by Tijani Gazali, director of civil appeals in the ministry, also expressed concern over the growing trend of governors interfering in local government administration in their states.
He accused governors and state assemblies of acting in defiance of the constitution and a supreme court ruling that prohibits their interference in LGAs.
“It is unfortunate that over the last few decades in Nigeria, in plain contradiction of the constitutional mandates of state governments, local governments have now seen a great decline as they are nothing but a mere appendage of the state governments, merely existing as a means of supplying extra funds for the state governments,” he said.
“The most unfortunate of the decline is the unconstitutional connivance by state governors and their state houses of assemblies to willing democratically elected local government structures without recourse to the rule of law and replacing them with their candidates.
“Local government structures had almost become extinct in Nigeria and that necessitated the action taken by President Bola Tinubu to immediately intervene through the filing of a suit in the supreme court in 2024.
“Despite the judgment of the supreme court outlawing the illegal removal of democratically elected local government councils by state governors, few states have continued to carry on with this illegality. This act is tantamount to treason and must be treated as such.”
Fagbemi’s remarks come amid an ongoing crisis in Osun state over the status of sacked LGA chairpersons.
The controversy began following a court of appeal ruling on February 10 regarding officials removed from office in 2022.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argued that the ruling did not reinstate the sacked officials, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) insisted that it did.
On Monday, violence broke out in some LGA secretariats in Osun state after a clash between APC and PDP supporters.
Some persons were killed during the clash, including Remi Abbas, a former chairman of Irewole LGA.
Just as in Osun State, Edo state was recently engulfed by crisis over Governor Monday Okpebholo’s decision to query and indeed oust local government chairpersons in the state. With the AGF’s warning, it is not clear how things will shape up in the coming days.
