Out Of 36 States, 22 Governors Have Sacked LG Officials And Installed Caretakers - Femi Falana
On 13th July, 2024 the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana during an interview with Vanguard while reacting to the ruling by the Supreme Court, granting the seven hundred and seventy-four Local Government Areas of the country financial autonomy, revealed that out of thirty-six States in the country, twenty-two State Governors have sacked Local Government Chairmen, and appointed Caretaker Committees, contrary to the stipulation of Section 7 of the Constitution.
According to Vanguard, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana said "Well, this is one of the very rare public-interest litigations that the Attorney General filed in court, and it’s a good development because we operate in an atmosphere of impunity. There are several judgments to the effect that no governor has the power to dissolve elected local government, but that occurred on a regular basis. Today, out of 36 states in the country, 22 governors have sacked local government officials and installed Caretaker Committees, contrary to the stipulation of Section 7 of the Constitution and the flagrant disobedience of several judgments of the court."
The Nigerian Human Rights Activist, Femi Falana added that the Nigerian Bar Association had not put in place a mechanism for dealing with lawyers in public office who defile the Constitution or who fail to give appropriate advice to the Federal and State Governments on the stipulation of Section 7 of the Constitution. He also added that no serious member of the opposition parties participated in the Local Government Election because the results of the elections were already known, the candidate of the ruling party would be declared winner just to ensure that nobody raises a query on the monthly allocation from the Federation account.