According to the report from the Vanguard, Dr. Doyin Okupe, the former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council and a previous Presidential spokesperson, has expressed his disapproval of the Federal Government’s legal actions against states concerning local government autonomy. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Sunday, Okupe articulated his concerns regarding the Federal Government’s court case.
As the former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Okupe described the Federal Government’s pursuit of local government autonomy as "needless and unfortunate."
In his view, "We should run a true federal system in which there are two bodies coming together for a union: the Federal Government and sub-nationalities, The local governments are principally and completely issues of the state, it absolutely has nothing to do with the federal government and it (the idea of LG as a third tier) should be expunged from the constitution."
Okupe further elaborated, "Let the nation’s money be shared between the Federal Government and the states. The Federal Government asking for local government autonomy in a federal system is an aberration."
He expressed disappointment, stating, "It is becoming so sad that we seem not to know what is right and what is wrong in the country."
According to Okupe, "The state government can decide to have as many local governments as it desires for grassroots development and fund it as they like."
Recently, the Federal Government has initiated legal action against the governors of the 36 states of the federation at the Supreme Court, accusing them of interfering in the administration of local councils within their states. The lawsuit, filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, seeks full autonomy for all local government areas in the country.
The Federal Government has requested the court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from "embarking on unilateral, arbitrary, and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders." Additionally, the lawsuit seeks an order allowing funds allocated to local governments to be directly channeled to them from the federation account, in accordance with the constitution, rather than through the alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors.
The Federal Government has also requested an order to stop governors from appointing caretaker committees to manage local governments, which is against the constitutionally recognized and guaranteed democratic system.
Furthermore, an order of injunction is being sought to restrain governors, their agents, and privies from "receiving, spending, or tampering with funds released from the federation account for the benefits of local governments" when no democratically elected local government system is in place in the states.