LG Autonomy: Supreme Court judgment victory for grassroots development -Barr. Osunwa

By Franklin Aladi
A Constitutional Lawyer, Barrister Kennedy Uzondu Osunwa has described the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on local government Autonomy as a victory for the development in the grassroots.

Osunwa who stated this in a chat with our Correspondent on Monday 15th July, 2024 said the substance of the judgement has advanced the cause of democracy and good governance in Nigeria.

Recall that recently, the seven-man panel led by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.

The apex court also held that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.

The court further declared that a State Government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee and a Local Government Council is only recognisable with a democratically elected government.

Reacting to the said judgement, the Okigwe Zone Coordinator of Imo Hope For Good Governance (IHFGG) pointed out that implication is that so far, only Democratic elected Local Governments in Nigeria shall henceforth receive direct allocation from Federal account during their tenure in office.

According to him, the direct Local Government Allocation shall no longer be obtained unconstitutionally by most Governors under the old regime of lawlessness that crippled Local Government Area development.

The Ezihe Isiala Mbano born legal Luminary cum politician said: “In furtherance, democratic elected Local Government in Nigeria shall no longer be dissolved during tenure of office by the wimps of some power drunk, over zealous self enriching Governors in Nigeria.

“Democratic elected Local Government tenure of office is now reinforced and protected by statute and case law.”

Osunwa however, thanked the Governor of the State, Senator Hope Uzodimma for setting up the machinery to conduct the Local Government Election across the 27 Local Government Areas of Imo State which comes in no distant time.

Prince Kennedy Uzondu Osunwa de Justice Defender reiterated that the autonomy of the Local Government in Nigeria will flourish if only the Governors who are the patriarch of Local Governments in Nigeria allows it to run its affairs independently without any form of interception, seizing, halting or cutting off the LG autonomy.