Recently, the Senate unanimously asked the Federal Government to halt the statutory allocation of funds to local government areas whose chairmen and councillors were not democratically elected. The resolution of the Senate, if heeded, will affect the 21 local government areas in Anambra State, which are being governed by unelected officials appointed by the state government.

The last local government election in Anambra State was conducted at the twilight of the administration of Governor Peter Obi in November 2014. Before I forget, it was the only local government election conducted in the eight years of the Obi administration, which ran the local governments with caretaker committees, comprising of handpicked officials.

While Obi conducted local government election once, his profligate successor, Willie Obiano, did not conduct any throughout his eight years in office. Like Obi, Obiano unlawfully ran the local government system with unelected officials, wearing the bogus garb of transition councils (TCs).

In three months’ time, the incumbent governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo would clock two years in office. As of the time of writing this article, there was nothing on ground in the state to suggest that Soludo will conduct local government election before the second anniversary of his administration on March 16, 2024. The Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) is the body legally empowered to conduct local government election in the state. From the inception of Soludo’s administration till date, ANSIEC has been comatose.

While presenting the 2023 Anambra State budget, tagged “Anambra State Budget of Acceleration” before the House of Assembly in November last year (2022), the professor of economics announced that he would soon present to the House for consideration, amendments to the ANSIEC law 2007 as part of moves towards conducting credible council polls. One year after, this has not materialised.

Just like Obi and Obiano, Soludo swore on the day of his inauguration to uphold the constitution of Nigeria. Section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees the system of local government by democratically elected local government councils. The same constitution makes it an obligation for the government of every state to ensure their existence under a law, which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.

Regrettably, Soludo has followed the path of his predecessors, running the councils with unelected officials, tagged “transition chairmen,” in contravention of the same constitution, which he swore to uphold, and in flagrant disobedience of a subsisting judgment of a competent court, which declared that the Anambra State Government has no powers to appoint officials to govern the local government areas.

In the landmark judgment in suit No. FHC/EN/CS/90/2005, the Federal High Court, Enugu Division, declared that by the combined effect of Section 7 (1) and 318 (i) (c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of Anambra State has no power for the appointment and approval of caretaker management committee, or in whatever name so called, to administer respectively, the 21 Local Government Council Areas in Anambra State.

The judgment was delivered on September 6, 2006 by Justice A.L. Allagoa in favour of the plaintiff, Mr. Ifeanyi Okonkwo, an indigene of Nnobi in Anambra State. Okonkwo had complained to the court that he was being denied the right guaranteed him in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, Cap A.9 Articles 13 (1) 24; 28 and 29 (2) of the L.F.2004 vol.1, to participate in his domestic government in Idemili South Local Council at the third tier of government, the local government council, which Section 7 (1) of the 1999 constitution decreed.

Joined as first to fourth respondents in the matter respectively, were the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of Anambra State, Anambra State House of Assembly and Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Anambra State. The plaintiff further argued that the act of the second, third and fourth respondents, violated his rights not to be discriminated against under Section 42 of the Constitution.

In the judgment, Justice Allagoa held that the Anambra State law providing for caretaker committee is inconsistent with Section 7 (1) of the Constitution. Allagoa said: “Looking at this provision literally, it is clear that the constitution of the local government by democratic system is guaranteed by the constitution itself. The constitution then imposed a duty on the state government to ensure the existence of such democratically elected local government.

“The constitution then further imposes on the state that upon the establishment of these democratically elected local government councils, provision should be made in the enabling law for the structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils. Therefore what the constitution in Section 7 (1) envisaged for the local government councils is an elected body, not a caretaker committee.”

Allagoa made it clear that the powers of the State House of Assembly under Section 7 (1) of the Constitution to legislate, concerning local government councils, clearly did not include power of the State Government to appoint caretaker committee to run local government. According to him, the section places a constitutional guarantee that the local government councils in the state be run by a democratically elected representative.

Consequently, the court ordered the second, third and fourth defendants, to pay the applicant (Ifeanyi Okonkwo) the sum of N5 million as exemplary damages. This judgment is still subsisting till date.

Regardless, handpicked state officials wearing the garb of “transition chairmen” are “illegally and illegitimately” running the affairs of the 21 local government areas in Anambra under Soludo’s watch. Whilst I am not a lawyer, it is common knowledge that contempt of court is a serious offence and attracts terms of imprisonment or fine, or both. Unfortunately, Nigerian governors hide under the immunity conferred on them by Section 308 of the same 1999 Constitution, to break the law.

Based on conservative estimates, about N100 billion have accrued to the local government areas in Anambra State from the federation account under the current administration in the state. This is besides the billions of naira raked in as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from markets scattered across the state, which by law, belong to the local government areas where they are located. Who will the people hold accountable for the management or mismanagement of the funds?

The deafening silence of elders of Anambra State including former governors, traditional rulers and religious leaders, on this matter, is mind boggling. An Igbo adage says that “an elder does not stay at home and watch a tethered goat deliver.” If the Federal Government heeds the call of the Senate, it means that the allocation to the 21 local government areas in Anambra State would be halted. Elders of Anambra State must speak up now before it is too late.

Finally, if the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mba, who is barely six months in office is planning to hold local government election in two months’ time, nothing stops Soludo from holding council polls in Anambra. The local government is the tier of government closest to the people. The most acceptable definition of democracy often credited to former American President, Abraham Lincoln is “government of the people by the people and for the people.” For democracy to yield the expected dividends in the country, it must be entrenched at the grassroots. It is the right of the people to decide who governs them at every level in a democracy.

A democratised local government system in Anambra State will boost the local economy and assist immensely in arresting the scourge of insecurity in the state.

Nzomiwu, a development communicator and political scientist, wrote from Awka.