At least 15 governors are in breach of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, DAILY POST findings have shown.

They include Benue, Kwara, Cross River, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Kogi, Osun, Plateau, Imo, Ondo, Bayelsa, Yobe, Bauchi and Sokoto states.

Section 7 of the Constitution aptly provides that “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the government of every state shall, subject to Section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.”

DAILY POST findings show that at the moment, no fewer than 14 governors obtained approvals from their respective state Houses of Assembly and constituted caretaker committees in place of elected chairmen.

Late last year, the Senate asked the Federal Government to block statutory allocations to any local government council not democratically elected.

The Red Chamber unanimously resolved that this move would deter the dictatorial tendencies of state governors.

The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Sen. Abba Moro on the urgent need to halt the erosion of democracy vis-a-vis the dissolution of elected councils in Benue State.

The lawmakers argued that the placement of Caretaker Committees to replace Elected Councils is an aberration, undemocratic and a breach of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

Senator Victor Umeh (representing Anambra Senatorial district), who seconded the motion, lamented that the issue has continued to undermine the local government system in Nigeria.

Consequently, the Senate condemned the arbitrary dissolution of democratically elected local government councils in Benue and other federation states.

To save the face of Nigeria’s democracy, the Senate urged Alia to adhere to his oath of office, obey the rule of law, review the constitution of caretaker committees, and reinstate the elected councils.

But Alia is not alone on this. Many of his colleagues are involved in the said unlawful act.

Many concerned Nigerians are worried that despite the clear provision of the constitution and even court judgements, the governors have continued to observe that section in breach.

Several court pronouncements have held that the use of caretaker committees was in conflict with section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution.

However, even some of the governors who used the conduct of local government elections as part of their campaign promises, reneged once they got elected into office.

This is not the first time efforts have been made to preserve the constitutional roles of the local government councils.

It could be recalled that former president Muhammadu Buhari had at a time signed an executive bill mandating the direct payment of statutory allocation to the state judiciary, legislature and the local government councils.

Till date, many state governors are hellbent on running the council areas with caretaker committees.

Evidence of corporate malfeasance is said to abound in the handling of LG funds by many governors, with the local government chairmen always crying in silence for fear of victimization.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, does not agree less.

Like many other Nigerians, it is worried over the level of financial sleaze being perpetrated with the local government system.

In a Freedom of Information, FOI, request signed by SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation is urging the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the actual disbursement and spending of federal allocations meant for local governments in the states and the FCT since May 1999.

SERAP also agreed that the governors pocket a larger chunk of the money allocated to the LGAs on a monthly basis.

It expressed sadness that “allegations of corruption and mismanagement of federal allocations meant for local governments have contributed to widespread poverty, underdevelopment and lack of access to public goods and services in several states.

“According to our information, the 36 states in Nigeria and the federal capital territory, Abuja, have collected over N40 trillion federal allocations meant for the 774 local governments areas in the country and FCT.

“SERAP notes that former president Muhammadu Buhari recently alleged that state governors routinely pocket or divert federal allocations meant for local governments areas in their states.

“According to Buhari, ‘If the money from the Federation Account to the State is about N100 million, N50 million will be sent to the chairman but he will sign that he received N100 million. The chairman will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to share it with.’”

However, many Nigerians, including the Senate, feel the time has come for the federal government to take decisive action against the recalcitrant governors.

Some observers say the Houses of Assembly deserve more knocks as they aid and abet the illegality instead of chastising the governors.

Professor Frank Asogwa of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, has strong words for the governors.

The professor of law described the action of the state chief executives as an affront to the constitution, stressing that it stifles democracy.

“It is not just unconstitutional but illegal in the sense that the Supreme Court has made a pronouncement on that issue and declared caretaker committees of local government areas illegal,” he told DAILY POST in an interview.

Asogwa added that, “If you do not have a democratically elected local government system, then you are in breach of Section 7, which says that a democratically elected system of local government must at all times be maintained.

“You cannot have democracy at the federal level, democracy at the state level and fail to also have democracy at the third tier of government, even though as an academic I don’t believe there is a third tier of government.

“There are just two tiers- federal and state governments, because the other one is an appendage of state, that is why the constitution said a democratically elected local government system must be assured by who- by the state government.

“That’s why the state governor appoints the chairman of the state electoral commission and this chairman in consultation with the governor, who is the chief executive, determines when, how and if local government elections will be held.

“So, it is not right actually because it stifles democracy at that level.

“Elections at the federal and state levels do not depend on the whims and caprices of who is the head of state, the president of Nigeria or who is the governor.

“There is an independent umpire we know as INEC that organises elections for both federal and state. So, why is SIECs not that independent to say after two years, depending on the state, we are going to conduct an election in the local government?”

The university don, who served as commissioner for local government during the administration of ex-governor Sullivan Chime in Enugu State, equally blamed the sad development on governors’ desire to divert funds meant for the local governments.

He said, “The other reason which is not always spelt out is that the governors who don’t hold elections find it convenient to divert local government funds.

“There has been so much talk about the autonomy of the local government, not just in terms of exercise of power, but autonomy in terms of budgetary provisions and allocations coming straight from the FAAC.

“But some governors opposed it; they don’t want it, because it is convenient for them that the money comes into a central purse and then they decide what goes to the local governments; for some, they allow the funds go to the local governments and determine how much they pay back to the state coffers and they call it joint account or whatever, which is unconstitutional.

“The constitutional thing is what I did when I was commissioner for local government in Enugu State. The law established the State Economic Planning Commission.

“All the local government chairmen are supposed to be members because the law is there; I was there as a member of that commission by virtue of my portfolio as local government commissioner; we had the commissioner for finance, the commissioner for works, we had commissioner for planning Enugu State and other commissioners who were relevant to the development of the local government system.

“At that level, we took decisions on projects affecting local governments; that was how the Nike-Ugwuogo-Opi-Ikem Road was built, because Nsukka, Isi-Uzo and Enugu East Local Government contributed 10 per cent of the fund for the building of that road and the state government contributed 70 per cent.

“I did a memo to the state executive council that time suggesting this ratio and it was approved.

“If any governor is sincere about local government funds, he should go through the Economic Planning Commission, where the local government chairmen are also members and introduce projects.

“So many governors are reluctant to remove their grip on the local government system in spite of what the constitution says.

“In different fora, I have asked this question to state representatives- how would you feel if the federal government strangles the state governments the way they are doing the local system? And they have no answer.”

He, however, said the Senate motion was not enough to end the illegal activities of the governors.

According to him, “the Senate should back it up with a law; the local government system is a creation of law so you cannot by resolution dictate what should happen to them. It will be illegal also to do so; two wrongs cannot make a right.

“If the National Assembly feels very strongly about what the governors are doing, let somebody propose a bill which should be passed at both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“It’s just like local government autonomy, let them have a strong law backing it up. When that happens, a local government can challenge a governor if he does anyhow, but they cannot do it now for fear of being removed.

“In my conclusion, I repeat that the practice of not holding local government elections is unconstitutional, it is illegal and an affront to democracy in this country.”

Also Airing his views, a former member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Chinedu Nwamba told DAILY POST that it was wrong for governors to remove elected chairmen and councillors merely because they are not from the same political party.

He equally said the conduct of local government elections was mandatory except in special circumstances.

While using Enugu as a case study, Nwamba said, “there is a court order, for other states, I don’t know what the problem is.

“But in Enugu, from the time of Sullivan Chime, there has always been elected local government chairmen, it only happened in a few cases during the Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration when there was a little break and they had caretaker for a few months and after that, election was conducted.

“I’m sure the incumbent governor will also conduct local government elections.

“Coming to other states, I don’t know the reasons given to the Houses of Assembly to expressly approve caretaker committees; their own case might be different from that of Enugu.

“Another school of thought says the governors may want to be in control of the funds of the local governments and that is why they are using caretaker, because once there are elected chairmen and councillors, the councillors now approve the budget of the local government.

“The constitution said the state government through the House of Assembly should supervise the local governments but that should not amount to non-conduct of elections; they also have a joint account, which is JAAC; apart from that, I will say that the local government should fully be on their own, that is where the lacuna is.”

He also said the dissolution of elected chairmen by new governors was equally illegal.

“It is totally unconstitutional and the Houses of Assembly should not approve of it; if an elected local government chairman is in office and a governor comes in, maybe they are not from the same political party, and the governor dissolves them, it is not right.

“There are reasons for an elected chairman to be removed and there are procedures and measures. It is either through impeachment, resignation by himself or he got another appointment.

“So, it is not constitutional to remove an elected chairman or councillor just because the person is not in the same political party with the governor.”

On his part, a rights activist, Barr Olu Omotayo accused the various state Houses of Assembly of promoting illegality.

Omotayo, the President of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, said the state lawmakers err in law when they approve caretaker committees for governors despite the clear provisions of the constitution and the Supreme Court judgements.

The lawyer was concerned that the state lawmakers who should sanction the governors for breaching Section 7 of the Constitution were the same ones approving the illegal caretaker committees.

He advocated for citizens’ awareness and action.

According to him, “some of these things, the citizens have concentrated so much attention on the federal unlike in advanced countries, where people focus more on the grassroots

“So, the mentality over the years, we used to focus on the federal government without asking questions, forgetting that development only comes from the grassroots.

“Democracy was brought, this federalism was brought so that from the grassroots it goes up, but we are turning it upside down, we believe it is from up to down.

“And the American model we are using, it is from down you go up; many people in America don’t even know who is their president but they know their councillor; if they have any complaint, they go to their councillor.

“Until we change that mentality and start asking questions, local governments will not function.

“It is a constitutional provision; postponing elections when there is a constitutional provision that there must be local government is a grave infraction on the constitution.

“Only that the citizens have not been living up to expectations in this democracy; the constitutional provision is mandatory, the democratically elected local governments must be there.

“When you postpone elections, who will be operating? The Supreme Court has ruled that caretaker committees they are appointing are unknown to law.

“You cannot continue illegality in a democracy and think that things will work well.”

On the role of the state lawmakers, Omotayo said, “whatever they are doing is illegal because if the constitution says there must be elected local government, if they make a law or approvals contradictory to the constitution, the position of the law is that the constitution must prevail.

“Whatever law they make is null and void to the extent of its inconsistency with the constitution. So, whatever they are making is unlawful and unconstitutional.”

Reinforcing this stand, the President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Ambali Akeem Olatunji, identified corruption as the primary impediment to the realisation of local government autonomy in the country.

Olatunji, who spoke during his visit to Taraba State attributed the resistance to change to those benefiting from corruption.

He emphasised that the persistent challenges in local government administration stem from certain political actors in states who engage in the pilfering, diversion, and theft of local government allocations.

He also identified a flaw in the 1999 Constitution, which he said placed the local government areas under the state Houses of Assembly.

He accused state legislatures of being coerced by various state governments to enact illegal laws.

Highlighting the constitutional guarantee of democratically elected leaders, Olatunji denounced the appointment of caretakers.

He said, “NULGE is now advocating for federal intervention in states that refuse to conduct local government elections.

“We are proposing the seizure of local government allocations by the federal government.”

He said salaries should be directly deposited into workers’ accounts using the National Identification Number, NIN.

DAILY POST reports that some of the states running the local government councils with elected chairmen include- Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Kaduna, Adamawa, Niger, Nasarawa, Lagos, Ogun, Yobe, Kebbi, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Rivers, Oyo, Edo, Delta, Borno and Ekiti.

Below are some of the governors who seem unwilling to conduct council polls:

ANAMBRA

Anambra is one of the worst states in terms of non-conduct of local government elections.

No wonder the people of the state were delighted when the incumbent governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, while campaigning for the position in 2021, promised a speedy conduct of elections at the grassroots.

The last local government election in the state was held during the twilight of the Peter Obi administration in January 2014.

Many had blamed him for remembering to do so only when his administration was winding up, but at least he did.

For eight years, former governor, Chief Willie Obiano failed to conduct the election, heightening the quest for it.

During the last governorship election in the state, it was obvious that only one who supported the conduct of the election may get the people’s votes.

Prof Soludo cashed in on that. He promised that if elected, the local government election would be one of his priorities.

On March 17, Soludo will be two years in office. There has been constant prodding by opposition parties for the governor to hold election, but many believe that there is nothing on ground to show that Soludo is ready for it.

While there is no constituted electoral body, the lawmaker representing Awka South 1 constituency in the House of Assembly, Henry Mbachu, during the presentation of the 2024 budget, lamented the absence of budgetary allocation for the conduct of LG polls.

He said: “Going through the budget estimate presented, it is glaring that there are no intentions of conducting LGA elections next year (2024).

“On page 475, the budget for the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission for this current year was N89,120,000, while the projected estimate for the incoming year is N129,120,000.

“You find out that there’s no feasibility or readiness for local government elections for the incoming year. I worry so much because this tier of government has suffered so much because of a lack of local government elections.”

Meanwhile, a human rights activist, Mr Kenechukwu Kodili, who spoke to DAILY POST, lamented that Soludo was already disappointing the people by reneging on the conduct of local government elections in the state.

He said: “For close to two years of being the governor, all he (Soludo) does is renew the tenure of the caretaker local government chairmen every three months.

“That was not what he promised the people. He was himself elected into the governorship seat, he should also conduct elections to elect local government chairmen, not to keep renewing the appointment of those he appointed.”

KWARA

For the past four years, the Kwara State government has administered local government areas with caretaker committees.

It could be recalled that the democratically-elected council chairmen were sacked in 2019 by the All Progressives Congress-led government, triggering a legal dispute that terminated at the Supreme Court.
https://www.otowngist.com/2024/01/uzodinma-14-other-governors-under-scrutiny-for-lga-administration-breach/