State governors have been warned not to go with the idea of overturning the Supreme Court’s judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments.
Giving the warning was the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, on Tuesday in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
According to the AGF, governors must respect the judgment adding that while the federal government has not granted the three-month grace period requested by the governors for the implementation of the judgment, it won’t rush it’s implementation.
“Unfortunately, I know it has been in the media that they gave them (the governors) a three-month moratorium, which is not the position. The position is that, yes, the judgment was delivered, but we felt that there is a need to put some things in place before the full implementation. That it is going to be implemented is sacrosanct; nobody can run away from it.
“Are they going to rewrite the judgment of the Supreme Court? Once we have the full details of their law, we will act accordingly.
“There is no such moratorium. The judgment was passed, but we acknowledged the need to establish certain frameworks before full implementation. Nonetheless, implementation is compulsory, and no one can avoid it,” Fagbemi said.
It is recalled the Anambra State governor, Chukwuma Soludo recently enacted the Local Government Administration Law 2024 to replace the Supreme Court judgment.
His actions has generated reaction from some quarters who saw it as a way to avoid obeying the Supreme Court judgment
There have also been attempts by some governors to coerce chairmen of their local governments not to obey the judgement.