Former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, has criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling on the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
On Thursday, the Supreme Court mandated that the federal government pay allocations directly to local government councils from the federation account.
The seven-member panel of justices ruled that state governments have been misusing funds intended for LGAs.
The apex court also ordered the federal government to withhold allocations of LGAs governed by unelected officials appointed by the governor.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court bars FG from releasing allocations to LGs with unelected officials
Reacting to the judgment in a post on his X page, Ibori described the ruling as an assault and a setback on true federalism, adding that the decision contravenes section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution.
He said the federal government “has no right to interfere with the administration of LGAs under any guise whatsoever”.
The former Delta governor said the ruling would have “far-reaching” implications, such as “erosion of state autonomy” and centralising “more power to the centre,” among others.
“The supreme court has dealt a severe setback on the principle of federalism as defined by section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” Ibori wrote.
“The section expressly provides thus: ‘Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in each State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly’.
“Sections 6 provide further clarity on the subject matter: ‘Each State shall maintain a special account to be called ‘State Joint Local Government Account’ into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court delivers judgement on local government autonomy
