A human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Niyi Aborisade, on Tuesday, faulted former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s comment on local government autonomy.

Fashola, in a live interview, said that local government autonomy was not realistic.

But Aborisade said autonomy is feasible at the grassroots level, lamenting that governors have arrogated the powers to local government chairmen to themselves.

He maintained that the 2024 verdict of the Supreme Court had strengthened the need for autonomy.

Aborisade, who is a governorship aspirant in Oyo State in 2027 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), emphasised that there must be political will to make local councils autonomous to engender development at the grassroots.

Aborisade said: ”I cannot subscribe to what the former governor said. Local government autonomy is realistic. It is the governors of states that arrogate power to themselves. The Supreme Court has given a verdict on this. Political relationships are not platonic but governed by laws.

“The law is clear on the autonomy of local government. We have done it before. What we have now is due to the excessive power of the governors to control money; now, many governors are just giving out peanuts to the local government chairmen and using them as effective tools to control the people. That is why there are no longer developments in the local government.

“The council chairmen cannot do anything; they have to write to the governor and take permission before embarking on any project. The governor will now decide whether to accede to their request or not.

“The governor would even be the one to bring the contractor to execute the project. So, I totally disagree with what former Governor Fashola said. Local government autonomy is realistic provided we have the political will.”