Oyo NNPP seeks constitution amendment on LG autonomy, accuses FG of ulterior motives

Osun Assembly passes bills to strengthen autonomy ahead of council elections

A South-West Leader of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Bisi Olopoenyan, yesterday, called on the Federal Government to urgently send a bill to the National Assembly to commence the process of amending the 1999 Constitution to grant full autonomy to councils.

Olopoenyan, while reacting to series of bashings the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been inflicting on Governor Seyi Makinde, for speaking against the Supreme Court judgment, and the prompt withdrawal of all 33 council chairmen in the state from the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), said: “It was clear that the Federal Government has a political motive for the development, otherwise the process of delivering the judgment by the apex court was too rapid and calls for suspicion.

“Makinde has only called for interpretation of the judgment, while the 33 council chairmen have the right to withdraw from ALGON.”

He said the Federal Government and the apex court had just created a constitutional crisis over the financial autonomy , wondering if that approach would in any way stop the governors from ensuring their cronies are elected as chairmen.

MEANWHILE, the APC has called on Nigerians to watch out for a new threat to the country’s democracy in view of Makinde’s alleged renewed indecent practices in the polity, lack of respect for the rule of law and tenets of constitutional democracy as well as palpable spirited efforts to turn the Pacesetter state into his private fiefdom.

The Oyo APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, condemned Makinde, whom it said, had in recent times come hard on the Federal Government on a number of issues that included removal of subsidy on imported petroleum products, financial autonomy to the third-tier of government, among others.

IN another development, the Osun State House of Assembly, in a move to bolster council autonomy, yesterday, passed two crucial bills into law, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (Amendment 1) Bill, 2024 and the Osun State Local Government Areas (Creation & Administration) (Amendment 7) Bill, 2024.

A statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Olamide Tiamiyu, said that the key objectives of the bills were to align the state’s legislation with the Supreme Court judgment that upheld the independence of local councils.