News Rendezvous

– Calls for the Removal of LGA Elections from Governors to Avoid Total Collapse of Democracy

The Adamawa state Labour Party (LP) Caretaker Committee Chairman and acting chairman of the Labour Party in Adamawa, Hon. Theman Jonah has
has commended the Supreme Court’s verdict upholding the fiscal autonomy of local government authorities in Nigeria.

Theman praised the ruling of the Supreme Court mandating for the direct transfer of funds directly into local government accounts without the interference of state governments.

Theman said, that before the landmark ruling, there were only two functional tiers of government principle in the country as the local governments had been stifled and reduced to a useless entity in the delivery if the dividends of democracy.

Theman made the remarks in an exclusive chat with Daily Sun in Yola, Adamawa state.

The Labour leader said, “The kleptomaniac fingers of the Nigerian governors have robbed the Nigerian people of development and progress and have stolen from our democracy the capacity to deliver any good.

“Local governments should consider the 11th of July their independence day. For me, this is the best judgment ever delivered since the return of democracy in 1999 that favours the people, good governance, and development at the grassroots.

“The local government tier of government in Nigeria has been reduced to nothing by the greedy anti-people stance of state governors and the ruling by the apex court is just a first step in the right direction for the people of Nigeria.

“Nigeria is a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious country and there cannot be true federalism if power is convoluted at the center whether at state or federal level.

“If democracy is truly a game of numbers where the majority have their way and the minority always have their say, then this ruling will essence functionality in that sense.”

The party leaders further said, “All Nigerians represented within the 774 local governments of the country must be free to chart their course and pursue their developmental agenda without their funds being held hostage at state or federal coffers.

“If the dividend of democracy must trickle down to every Nigerian wherever they are, then local government funds must get to them. The LGA leaders must ensure probity and judicious utilisation of the funds because that is the level from which our revolution must begin.”

The LP leader enjoins local council leaders to see this ruling as a day for their independence and the end of tyranny and to muster the courage to resist the overbearing and brazen as all eyes will now be on them to see they will willfully surrender their funds through the back door to the governors.

The next thing Nigerians are looking forward to reaping from the dividends of democracy that they have heavily invested decades of their hopes in is the credible conduct of the local government elections.

Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) like most of the state electoral bodies must be banned and the conduct of local government elections and the management of LGA elections must be handed over to INEC to ensure a free, fair, and credible election at all levels of governance in the country and to help protect salvage democracy from imminent and total collapse.

Signed,
Theman Jonah
Caretaker Committee Chairman,
Labour Party, Adamawa State