The Supreme Court on Thursday held that henceforth, all Local Government Area allocations should be paid directly into their accounts.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who led a seven-member panel of Justices of the apex court, gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by the federal government against the 36 state governors.
“Henceforth, no more payment of the Local Government Area allocations to the state government accounts,” the judge held.
The court also barred the 36 governors from receiving, tampering or withhold funds meant for the local government.
The governors were also barred from henceforth dissolving democratically elected officials for local governments and that doing so would amount to a breach of the 1999 Constitution.
The Federal Government had approached the Supreme Court with a suit seeking to compel governors of the 36 states of the federation to grant full autonomy to the local governments in their domains.
The suit, marked SC/CV/343/2024, was filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on behalf of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government urged the apex court to issue “an order prohibiting state governors from unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected leaders of local governments.”
In the suit predicated on 27 grounds, the Federal Government accused the state governors of gross misconduct and abuse of power.
The FG, in the originating summons, prayed the Supreme Court to make an order expressly stating that funds standing to the credit of local governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to the local governments rather than through the state governments.
The justice minister also prayed for “an order of injunction restraining the governors, their agents and privies from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released from the Federation Account for the benefits of local governments when no democratically elected local government system is put in place in the states.”
The Federal Government further sought “an order stopping governors from constituting caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments as against the Constitutionally recognised and guaranteed democratically system.”
