“A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.” – Adlai E. Stevenson
Last Thursday, the nation’s apex Court, the Supreme Court ruled that it’s illegal for any state Governor to withhold local Government funds. This ruling has been interpreted by many as autonomy for the third level of government in the country. It has also undeservedly elicited some commendations for the embattled and morally decadent, and sybaritic apex court.
The celebration that greeted the ruling again unveiled the double-tongued ambidextrous nature of our political leaders. Among those celebrating the ruling include but are not limited to former state Governors who blatantly enjoyed the abuse that is now discovered suddenly to be bad. Even President Bola Ahmad Tinubu who took the matter to court and got victory which he is savouring as an achievement, once danced samba on the funds of local Government for eight years as Governor of Lagos state. And even made a mountain of noise when then President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld the Lagos state LG funds for the state breaching the constitution by creating more local Governments than the ones listed in the status book.
In dissecting this so-called landmark judgment from the Supreme Court, I will be taking a different perspective and will be disagreeing with those schools of thought that hold that the judgement amounts to autonomy for the local Government councils.
By holding such a view we are either ignorant or feigning it of what political autonomy means. Political autonomy refers to the ability of a political entity, such as a country, region, or local government, to govern itself and make decisions without external influence or control. It encompasses the power to Self-govern, and make decisions on internal affairs, laws, and policies. Set priorities and determine your own development goals and strategies. Manage resources, and control own finances, natural resources, and assets. Exercise sovereignty by enjoying independence and freedom from external interference.
Political autonomy is therefore vital and of high priority for democracy to flourish as it allows citizens to participate in decision-making processes. And guarantees Self-determination which enables communities to shape their destiny. Political autonomy also creates room for accountability by ensuring that leaders are responsible to their constituents.
Autonomy can be granted through various means, such as decentralization, federalism, or independence. Its scope can vary, ranging from partial autonomy to full independence.
All the persons celebrating the Supreme Court judgement know as a fact that the ruling has not realistically guaranteed any of the above essentials of political or economic autonomy.
What both Tinubu and the Supreme Court intended and which they partially succeeded in achieving is to sure up their battered democratic image which was fatally damaged by their snatch, grab and run system which the Supreme Court unfortunately endorsed by its October 26, 2023 ruling on the February 25th 2023, Presidential election.
Our local Government system has faced mordant abuses by successive governments over time whether military or civil rule. The sanctity of that tyre of government has been serially abused.
This anomaly has been statutorily aided by some contradictions in the 1999 constitution as it relates to local government administration.
For instance, Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution states forcefully that “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the government of every state shall subject to section 8 of this constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils”. But notwithstanding, section 7 (6a) submits that “the National Assembly shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to Local Government councils in the federation. And multiplying the confusion further as section 7 (6b) states that “the House of Assembly of a state shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to local government councils within the state”.
Going further in the muddled-up issue of the Local Government system in Nigeria
section 162 (6) establishes the State Joint Local Government Account for payment of “all allocations to the Local Government councils of the State from the Federal account and the Government of the State”. Section 162(7) directs the State Government to pay Local Government councils its total revenue on the terms prescribed by the National Assembly. At the same time, it gives the same power and functions to the State House of Assembly in section 162(8)
Further, section 8 (subsections 5 and 6) also saddles the National Assembly with some functions before the creation of a local government can become legal. The implication of all the identified contradictions and ambiguities is that it is difficult to locate constitutionally the locus of power on local government creation.
These apparent contradictions in the operations of our local Government administration in the country are what the governors and indeed everyone including the Presidency, the National Assembly, state Assemblies(in the case of Rivers state House extending the tenure of LG Chairmen in the state) and now the Supreme Court are taking advantage of.
A distinguishly dirty judiciary in cahoots with an equally dented executive jumping into the middle of the constitution to make major policy pronouncements that will have no fundamental effect just to enjoy popularity is not something that deserves any accolade.
Why should there be exhilaration about LG autonomy just because bank account numbers and possibly banks are changed but the person who decides when, and how much to spend remains the same? How far can a court, not the people-imposed autonomy last? Are we no longer familiar with the saying that the person who pays the piper dictates the tune? Since 1999, 25 years of this democratic journey no single political party outside that of the governors in each of the 36 states has ever won as a councillor or LG Chairman. And nobody has ever emerged a candidate of the governor’s party without his nod.
If the man or ruling party that appoints INEC Chairman and National and Resident Commissioners dictates the outcome of National Elections, why all the noise about governors dictating for state electoral Commissions who write local Government election results in their various government houses?
Since INEC conducting local government elections will amount to nothing but enlarging the corrupt scope of the electoral officials, why not localize the illicit wealth acquisition and by so doing federate the corruption since we can’t stop it?
This clever by-half constitutional reform by Five or seven members of an unpopular judiciary lacking in moral standing and acting on our behalf should be questioned as it would be difficult not to pinpoint a secret agenda in the whole exercise.
If anybody is sincerely interested in making any fundamental changes to help deepen our democracy, it should focus on our leadership recruitment model. If political parties remain what they are, a looting house of commotion INEC continue to have characters like Yakubu Mahmoud and the electoral law continues to have loopholes to assist corrupt Electoral Commission and a rotten judiciary, there will never be autonomy for the system.
It’s ironic that President Tinubu who lectured us all from Chattam House in 2022 on grab-and-run politics, and who for over two decades single-handedly hand-picked councillors and LG Chairmen in Lagos state to build his political empire, is now trying to wear the garb of a democrat to save LGs. This third tier of Government is too critical to lifting people out of poverty and therefore very strategic to national development.
It’s perhaps in the realization of the essential importance of LGs for grassroots development that engineered various reform packages over time from 1976 through to 1984 to even the Olusegun Obasanjo era.
The content of the Supreme Court ruling being hailed and fronted today was long recommended under the Obasanjo regime’s LG reform package that was marred because of a constitutional amendment that was required.
The problem with Nigerian leaders who play clever by half game is that they forget that the other half is not stupid. The challenge of our democracy is squarely in our election which denies the voters the right to choose who governs them. If these fundamentals are not tackled and pave the way for the people’s choice to emerge as leaders at all levels of governance, no amount of so-called landmark judgment by imperious judiciary operatives appointed by a legitimate-challenged government can change anything. What we are seeing is hypocrisy and as William Hazlitt asserts correctly “The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
Our leaders have grown wings in their deception and now lie with sincerity. They no longer perceive their chicanery but dare to keep preaching integrity while wearing the garb of corruption. But we are all no fools.
