LG Autonomy: Nigerians Tackle Oyo Governor for ‘Disparaging’ S/Court Judgement
By Kabir Akintayo
Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde has received the knocks of a cross section of Nigerians over his reaction to the Supreme court judgment on Local Government Autonomy.
Recalled that the apex court last week ruled that the federal government should henceforth pay allocations directly to local government councils.
The governor had on Saturday referred to the apex court judgment on LGA financial autonomy as a mere distraction.
Makinde also set up two committees to review the court judgement and come up with recommendations that will ensure that the change does not affect the people of the state negatively.
The governor, while meeting with an Advisory and Consultative Committee comprising stakeholders in the local government on Monday, maintained that the judgement has created a constitutional lacuna that will throw up different challenges at the state and local level.
He said, “I called this meeting because I felt that even though we have not seen the Certified True Copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court, we have to be proactive and discuss the decision of the Supreme Court as it concerns financial autonomy of the local government councils because I believe a lacuna has been created between the decision and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that we all swore to uphold.
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“The law is the law and when there is a conflict, yes, we should go to the court. But it behooves on us to look for our own homegrown solutions that can ensure that we have transparency and that our people do not suffer. This is because when two elephants are fighting it is the grass that will suffer,” Makinde said.
Meanwhile, Nigerians took to social media to express their dismay over Makinde’s reactions to the apex court judgement on the LGA financial autonomy.
See some of the reactions below:
Ayekooto @DeeOneAyekooto, “Some governors have obtained loans using LG allocation as collateral”.
Sylva @laboct, “Oga just tell your local government chairman to give you the money and stop the em em em epistle”.
Lucky man~ ©️
@Comr lucky, “He should move on,supreme court verdict can’t be overturned…”
DAG ©️ @debo rev, “Makinde surely has a presidential ambition and part of his plans is to save money to fund it through the local government monthly allocations. Now with that judgment, that just dashed his hopes and puts him in confusion.”
01@!GB£ !M@D£GB£LO
@Imudia se2, “What exactly is he saying? He has been crying since this declaration. The LG chairs are elected too. Why are our governors so power-drunk, heartless, & greedy.”
Paul Chisom @pulsesmith, “The Supreme Court’s decision is clear. It seems the governors will miss the funds they’ve been receiving. The money should be paid into the local government administration accounts, and we should hold the local governments accountable for its use.”
