LG funds: Tinubu threatens Executive Order to enforce Supreme Court judgment

BARELY 24 hours after his appeal to governors to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court and remove their grip on local government statutory allocations, President Bola Tinubu has threatened to invoke an Executive Order to ensure compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Tinubu issued the threat on Friday night while speaking at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

He had earlier appealed to them at the National Caucus meeting held on Thursday night, noting that the autonomy of the local councils is being eroded.

The Supreme Court had, in a judgment in 2024, affirmed the financial autonomy of the country’s 774 local governments.

In the unanimous judgment of its seven-member panel, read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court held that local governments across the country should receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Tinubu told the gathering of the governors, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he would halt the stance of the governors who have refused to subordinate themselves to the judgment of the apex court.

He said:
“Now that you have elections at the local government level, you are the invigilators, you elected them and since you elected them, it means you know them. But give them their money and if you don’t do it, I have the Executive Order because I have the yam and the knife. I am just being very respectful and if you don’t start to implement it, you will see.
“The ultimate is our Supreme Court and you have to respect the judgment.”

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, who commended the party’s national leadership for its membership drive, however cautioned that the increasing number could threaten cohesion and unity and could be inimical to party discipline.

“We are a governing coalition that continues to grow. Managing this number can lead to fragmentation if there is no unity and discipline. NEC has a role to play in ensuring discipline and preventing factionalisation,” he said.

Honourable Abass called for respect for party organs and institutionalised discipline.

“APC must be a party that governs with discipline,” he declared.

Governor of Imo State and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Senator Hope Uzodimma, praised President Tinubu for his achievements, noting that the economic policies of his administration continue to yield positive results.

He said:
“We commend the new era of swift action in tackling insecurity, such as the rejig of the security architecture.
“We must acknowledge that petrol price has stabilised. It will continue to go down. The present reforms are yielding results. Inflation is receding, prices of foodstuffs are going down.
“Mr President is a true democrat as crude oil accruals go directly to the Federation Account. We now have increased money in our foreign reserves.”

The governor alleged that opposition parties were masterminds of the recent categorisation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern, submitting that the claim of persecution of Christians was unfounded.

“We will support Mr President to fish out those who may be fanning embers of destabilisation.
“We, the APC governors under the umbrella of the Progressive Governors Forum, won’t relent.
“Our job is to take the message of improved economy to the last man on the street.
“We hereby resolve to restate our confidence in Mr President. We thereby pass a vote of implicit confidence and urge Mr President to continue to make us proud.”

Kaduna State governor, Senator Uba Sani, seconded the motion on vote of confidence.