The Federal Government has initiated legal proceedings against the governors of all 36 states at the Supreme Court, accusing them of mismanaging Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The case, SC/CV/343/2024, filed by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, demands full autonomy for LGAs as the third tier of government.
The FG's lawsuit requests the Supreme Court to prohibit governors from dissolving democratically elected local government leaders unilaterally and to allow funds allocated to LGAs to be directly transferred from the Federation Account, bypassing the controversial joint accounts controlled by state governments.
Furthermore, the suit seeks to stop the appointment of caretaker committees in place of elected local government officials and to prevent governors from using LGA funds when no democratic local government system exists.
Citing the 1999 Constitution, the FG argues that the failure to establish elected LGAs undermines the Constitution, and thus, the governors are subverting democratic governance.
The Supreme Court is asked to enforce constitutional provisions mandating democratic local governments and to invalidate any dissolution of such councils by governors.
The case will be heard by the Supreme Court on May 30.
