A coalition of Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, under the aegis of Save Nigerian Democracy Group, SNDG, on Friday, faulted the position of Governor Charles Soludo on the Supreme Court judgement that granted.
full financial autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the country.
In a statement it made available to newsmen in Abuja, the coalition maintained that contrary to Governor Soludo’s contention, allowing the LGAs to receive their allocations directly from the federation account would encourage grass root development.
It lauded President Bola Tinubu for initiating the action, saying it was his “spirited attempts to navigate the country away from its current economic and financial quagmire,” that led to the judgement it said would engender “organic rural development that will drive the national development index.”
SNDG said it was worried that the Anambra state governor continued to criticise the granting of fiscal independence to LGAs instead of focusing on how to tackle the heightened insecurity in the state.
“To mitigate Gov. Soludo’s ambush against President Tinubu and the Supreme Court via the Anambra State House of Assembly, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu created a new Directorate and appointed Lami Chinade, as the Director of the newly created State Liaison Directorate in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
“Primarily, the purpose is to ensure that LG funds are not tempered with under any guise.
“Regrettably, rather than face the insecurity issues in Anambra, he has resorted to leading an ill crusade by sitting on appeal over a Supreme Court judgment on LG autonomy.
“It is truly baffling that Gov. Soludo feels that the third tier of government should not exist. More worrisome is the fact that he could muster the courage to state that granting financial autonomy to the LG would lead to chaos.
“Perhaps, this omniscient posture and grandstanding explain why he has wasted state resources in a fruitless attempt to rewrite the Supreme Court Judgment on APGA leadership against Chief Edozie Njoku who has been serially and countlessly declared the rightful National Chairman of APGA.
“While the global economy is not at its best, it is pertinent to note that President Tinubu willfully decided to take 10% from the federation account, whilst leaving the States with 90%.
“This is contrary to what we are used to before now. Ordinarily, this move should impel State Governors to look away from the LG funds.
“Despite all these gestures by the Presidency, some governors have their eyes stuck on LG funds.
“This brazenness to bring down the law to achieve this impunity is what we are up against,” the CSOs added in the statement that was signed by its coordinator, Mr. Cornelius Ajagbe.
Some of the groups under the coalition, included; Nigerian Democratic Movement, Campaign for Greater Nigeria, No Alternative to Peace Initiative, and Advancement of Freedom and Rights of Citizens.
It will be recalled that governor Soludo had on October 15, while signing the Anambra LG Administration Law 2024, insisted that granting absolute autonomy to the 774 local government areas was a recipe for “humongous chaos,” adding that it would not lead to any sustainable development.
Soludo argued that the Supreme Court judgment did not nullify Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which he said empowered state governments to enact enabling laws for the administration of local government areas.
