The Federal Government is planning to impose sanctions on states that fail to grant autonomy to local governments. This move is aimed at ensuring that local governments receive their allocations directly from the Federation Account rather than through state governments.
Lateef Fagbemi, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, said the federal government would also scrutinise the reason why some state governments have delayed local government elections in their states.
President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to sanction eight governors over failure to conduct local government elections in their states.
FG working on sanctioning eight governors over local government autonomy
Photo Credit: @officialABATSource: Twitter
According to Fagbemi, on Tuesday, October 22, there was no going back on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment that granted autonomy to local government.
The Punch reported that no less than 146 local governments in eight states are yet to conduct local government elections.
There are also reports that October 31 has been set as the deadline to commence the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment and states that refusing to comply would stop their local governments from getting their federal allocations.
Below is the full list of the eight states and their governors:
Governor Aiyedatiwa of Ondo
Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa may be sanctioned, going by Fagbemi’s words. The governor, who is contesting in the November 16 governorship election in the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has not conducted a council election despite approaching the deadline.
Recall that Ondo state has shifted its local government election four times. The council poll was first scheduled for December 16, 2023, before being shifted to February 17, 2024. The poll was later postponed to July 13, 2024, before its indefinite suspension.
However, on August 30, the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) announced that the election would be conducted on January 18, 2025. Ondo state has 18 local governments.
Osun state governor
Ademola Adeleke of Osun was one of the governors who had yet to conduct local government elections in his state despite the Supreme Court judgment.
Despite the Supreme Court judgment, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, announced that the local government election will be held on February 22, 2025. The state has 30 local governments.
Katsina state
Like Osun, the northwest state has fixed the local government elections to February 15, 2025, despite the Supreme Court ruling earlier in 2024.
This means that Governor Umar Dikko Radda may delay the 34 local governments in Katsina from getting their federal allocations should it begin the implementation of the apex court judgment by October.
Bassey Otu of Cret oss River
Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River was yet to conduct local government elections in the south-south state.
This means that the 18 local governments in the state may not receive a federal allocation until after the November 2, 2024, local government elections in the state.
Alex Otti of Abia
Another state where the local government election was yet to be held is Abia state.
Source: TheTalk.NG
