The members House of Representatives are fishing in trouble waters.
The lower chamber Tuesday July 9 2024 urged the Federal Government to withhold allocation to states running a Transition Implementation Committee (TIC).
The House also urged the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to create a special account where allocations due to local governments run by unelected officials would be paid.
The House stated that the money should be withheld until elected representatives are put in place by such state governments.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Rep. Gaza Jonathan (SDP-Nasarawa) and Rep. Ademorin Kuye (APC-Lagos) on the floor of the House in Abuja on Tuesday.
The motion titled,” Urgent need to address the refusal of state government to uphold democratic principles in the local governments and the financial impropriety of unelected local government officials.
Presenting the motion, the duo noted that the local government, as envisaged by the constitution, was the most important tier of government.
They stated that the LG was the closest to the people and forms the foundation of both the state and federal governments.
According to them, the dissolution of democratically elected councils is in direct contravention of section 7 of the Nigerian Constitution.
The Supreme Court pronouncements on such matters, states that it is a deliberate affront on democracy.”
They noted that the number of states acting with impunity and in utter disregard to the constitution continued to increase.
They noted that not less than 21 state governors are
currently running local government councils with caretaker committees.
The duo said that the impunity and disregard to the constitution was a deliberate effort to upstage democracy, frustrate accountability and transparency in the local government and also thwart their development potentials.
Adopting the motion, the House mandated the committees on state and local government affairs and finance
to work with the RMAFC to withhold allocations to local governments run by unelected officials.
The House also urged the Attorney-General of the Federation to institute legal action against any state that terminates the unexpired tenure of a local government.
