The Federal Government has instituted a legal action against the governors of the 36 states at the Supreme Court over alleged misconduct in the administration of Local Government Areas.
The suit, filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, seeks full autonomy for all local government areas in the country.
According to report, the Federal Government is specifically praying the court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government leaders. It is also seeking an order to allow local government funds to be directly channeled to them from the federation account, instead of the alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors.
The suit also asks for an order stopping governors from further constituting caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments, as against the constitutionally recognized democratic system.
The Federal Government argues that the failure of governors to put democratically elected local government systems in place is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution.
The Supreme Court has fixed May 30 for hearing the case. The Federal Government contends that it is not obligated to pay any state funds standing to the credit of local governments where no democratically elected local government is in place.
