NewsNigeriaPoliticsSupreme Court Strikes Down Governors’ Power to Dissolve Local Councils

The judgement, delivered on Thursday, came after a lawsuit was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), challenging the governors’ powers to dissolve elected local government councils and replace them with appointed caretakers.

The practice of dissolving local government councils and appointing caretaker committees has been a recurring issue in Nigeria. Critics have argued that this undermines democratic principles and empowers governors to exert undue control over local affairs. The Supreme Court’s decision aims to put an end to this practice.

The court’s judgement hinged on the interpretation of Section 7(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees a system of local government by democratically elected officials. The court ruled that this provision prohibits state governors from bypassing the democratic process and installing caretaker committees.

To this effect, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to withhold allocations to local governments governed by unelected officials appointed by the state governor.

The court also restrained state governors, their agents, and privies from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released for local governments.

It specifically mandated that “The amount standing to the credit of local government councils must be paid by the federation to the local government councils and not by any other person or body. The said amount must be paid to local government councils that are democratically elected.”

Justice Emmanuel Agim added, “An order of injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants from collecting funds belonging to the local government councils when no democratically elected local government councils are in place.

“An order that henceforth no state government should be paid monies standing to the credit of the local government councils. An order for immediate enforcement and compliance with these orders by the state governments and successive governments henceforth.”