The judgement received swift accolades from eminent lawyers including former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide; the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Okey Wali, SAN; Constitutional lawyer, Itse Sagay and Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo.
The apex court while delivering judgement in the case of the removal of 148 elected local government officials by the Abia State Government in 2006, held that the action was illegal and amounted to "official recklessness" by the governor.
The five-member panel of justices of the apex court also ordered the Abia State Government to pay the sacked 148 elected officials their salaries and entitlement for the 23 months.
It would be recalled that the Abia State local government elected officials, comprising local government chairmen and councillors were sacked by former governor Orji Kalu in June 2006.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri had earlier declared as illegal, the dissolution of the local government areas in the state by the Abia State Government.
The Appeal Court judgement stated that the elected LG Chairmen and councillors had not concluded their tenure.
Shortly after the judgment was delivered, the then state's Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Ume Kalu, appealed against the judgment.
Eminent lawyers hail judgement…
Meanwhile, eminent lawyers have hailed yesterday’s judgement making it illegal for governors to remove elected local government officials.
Keyamo said the ruling was perfectly in order. “It is what we have always known that the governor can only be acting unconstitutionally. Even the appointments of administrators of all the local government councils and the misuse of the funds accruable to local governments are all illegal. All of these acts have always been unconstitutional. The governors have always been treating the local governments as ministries under them, which is completely wrong.
“If the federal government cannot tamper with the funds accruable to states, why should the states tamper with the funds accruable to local governments? So, it has always been a wrong practice and it is just a good thing and I’m happy that the Supreme Court has come out openly to say so,” Keyamo said.
Wali described the judgement as “a very welcome decision.” He said the NBA had always held the view that local government autonomy must be respected.
He added: “This idea of local government being appendages of states is not constitutional. They are constitutionally recognised and they should be allowed to run. So, I’m very happy, very, very delighted about the decision because that has always been the position of the Bar Association that local government must be autonomous. They are the closest government to the people.
“If you get to London, I’m sure you’ve already heard about the Mayor of London, same in America, we all know about the Mayor of New York. So, we need to grow our democracy. That’s one aspect of our democracy that has been distorted and abused. I pray that with this development the governors will learn to respect the local governments system.”
Akinjide said: “The Supreme Court of Nigeria is the highest court in the country. There’s no appeal against their judgment. Whatever legal pronouncement they made is final.”
For Sagay, what the Supreme Court has done is correct because “it is exactly in accordance with what is in the constitution.
He added: “The constitution made provision for only democratically elected local governments. So, if the local government is democratically elected and they have a fixed tenure, then nobody can remove them. Just as nobody can remove the State House of Assembly, just as nobody can remove the National Assembly until their period lapses. So, what the state governors were doing was illegal. It was contrary to the constitution. They are exercising powers they don’t have. So, what the Supreme Court has said is absolutely correct.”
The lead judgment was written by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour while Justice Walter Onnoghen presided over the hearing of the appeal.
The other three justices who agreed with the lead judgment are Suleiman Galadima, Kumai Bayang Aka'ahs and John Inyang Okoro.
Source: Thisday
