Dakum backs govt’s legal action against governors
The Ondo State House of Assembly has applied to the Supreme Court to be joined in the case filed by the Federal Government on local council autonomy.In an application filed at the apex court registry on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), the Speaker of the Assembly, Olamide Oladiji and the House, applied to be joined as 37th and 38th defendants in the suit.
MEANWHILE, piqued by rural under-development in the country, and the non-feasibility of redeeming such in the nearest future, the Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) and Plateau State’s Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, Prof. Patrick Sunday Dakum, said he was fully in support of the legal action taken by the Federal Government in securing autonomy for the third-tier of government from the clutches of their oppressors to enable them to witness rapid and tremendous transformation at the grassroots.
Dakum, while speaking with journalists, yesterday, in Jos, said if the local councils are developed, the entire country would be developed, adding that they cannot be developed without financial autonomy.
The application by the Assembly as a defendant in the suit stated, among others: “Ondo State House of Assembly is seeking an order granting leave to the applicants, Ondo State House of Assembly and Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, to apply to be joined as co-defendants in the suit
“An order directing the plaintiff to amend its originating processes filed in this suit to reflect the joinder of the applicants, Ondo State House of Assembly and Speaker.
“The applicants, being the legislative arm of the Ondo State Government, are creations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, responsible for making laws for the order and good governance in Ondo State and that the applicants are constitutionally saddled, particularly under Section 4 (7), 7 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution with the responsibility to make laws in respect of the issues and subject-matter of the instant suit as pertaining to Ondo State.
“There are already existing laws duly made by the applicants in respect of the issues canvassed in the suit as constituted, such as the Local Government System, Establishment and Administration of Local Government Law of Ondo State, Cap. 87, Laws of Ondo State, 2006 and the Ondo State (Creation of Local Governments) Law, 2023 and that the applicants are seeking to join the suit as necessary parties given the peculiar reliefs being sought and as pertaining to the constitutional rights and functions of the applicants.”
He further said that rural transformation would require complete financial autonomy at the council level, saying that if councils have their autonomy and work assiduously, they will create jobs at the grassroots to lessen the burden of unemployment on the federal and state governments, attract investors and enhance Gross Domestic Products of the country.
