Comments and Issues
Soludo cannot sit on appeal over a Supreme Court judgement
I am informed that the Anambra State House of Assembly passed a bill which was then recently signed into law by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, mandating local government councils in the state to pay a percentage of their federal allocation into an account to be controlled by the state government.
I have never seen such official rascality as this and cannot fathom what in the world could have induced Soludo and his rubber-stamp house of assembly to think they are in any position to sit on appeal over a judgement of The Supreme Court of Nigeria or howsoever amend the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
President Bola Tinubu wanted to activate the constitutional requirement for genuine democratic governance at local government level and deepen true federalism, hence the institution of the case that our apex court decided in favour of local government autonomy.
I can’t imagine what Professor Soludo meant by his amorphous and rhetorically nonsensical remarks to the effect that “local government autonomy is an impossibility”.
The Constitution says local government autonomy is a possibility; the Supreme Court affirmed the same; who the hell does Soludo think he is to declare otherwise?
And, what sort of ignoramuses are in the Anambra State House of Assembly to think they can edit, vary or abrogate a decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria?
It is of course possible for the legislature to abrogate certain implications of the decisions of the courts such as where, for instance, the National Assembly abrogated the dichotomy between derivation from onshore and offshore petroleum resources accruing to the oil producing states arising from the decision of the Supreme Court and stipulated that the litoral states shall be entitled to derivation therefrom during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
But, that was a case regarding the definition of the extent of a country’s territorial limits which the Supreme Court rightly decided ended at the low watermark but wrongly forgot to consider the fact that without litoral states, a sovereign would neither be entitled to a territorial sea nor exclusive economic zone and that the litoral states, but for whom we would have no territorial waters, are, in equity, entitled to derivation from the resources therefrom.
In that case, the Constitution did not specify whether or not derivation should be payable both from resources onshore and offshore and Obasanjo mischievously briefed the late F R A Williams, of blessed memory, to go to court to keep the proceeds from offshore petroleum resources all to himself as President.
Every lawyer worth their salt knows the case was decided per incuriam and that was why the entire nation mobilised to support the National Assembly for the abrogation of the resultant dichotomy in furtherance of the actualisation of true federalism.
What we have here is a totally different kettle of fish, altogether.
In this case, the Constitution clearly specifies that democratic rule MUST exist at local government level just as at the other tiers of government, thus reiterating the fact that the Federal Republic of Nigeria SHALL and MUST, indeed, be a true federation, not merely in name but also indeed.
The only solution to such a “problem” for an obviously greedy man like Soludo, who likes to call himself “Solution”, is to have the Constitution of The Federal Republic amended to do away with local government autonomy which is therein solidly cast in stone.
Well, it is most certainly not up to the Anambra State House of Assembly to single-handedly amend the Constitution of the entire country – it is not even up to the National Assembly to do so, suo moto, for it can only do that in tandem with the legislatures of the states.
What Soludo and his spare parts market of a state house of assembly have done is totally insane disobedience to a court order and they must be taught a very harsh and bitter lesson for their intransigence, lawlessness and rascality towards our apex court.
Indeed, even if it was the High Court of Anambra State that had declared that local government councils in that state must have financial autonomy, it cannot possibly be the remit or entitlement of the state legislature to abrogate the judgment because such judgment would still had amounted to the activation of a constitutional stipulation for local government autonomy as the Supreme Court had done in this case.
Who do those jokers in Awka then think they are to fancy themselves as possessing the authority to take the law into their own hands by not only raising their middle fingers at the Supreme Court of Nigeria but unilaterally purporting to amend the Constitution of The Federal Republic by themselves?
Some of our Governors are not only unconscionably dictatorial but also rather godlessly avaricious, as well.
What does Soludo need local government funds for, in addition to the federal allocation he gets, no to talk of the internal revenue generated of the state?
We are talking of a Supreme Court judgement, for God’s sake – when former President Muhammadu Buhari decided to edit a Supreme Court decision on Naira redesign to his own taste, we, the progressives, told him to behave himself and comply to the letter with the judgment.
Everyone must obey a court order – that is the only way to govern a country, maintain law and order and preserve civilisation, itself.
To imagine that some poorly educated clowns will just sit in Awka and most insolently defy the order of our apex court, citadel of law and order, and, temple of justice, The Supreme Court of Nigeria, itself.
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To imagine that a bunch of hustlers masquerading as genuine legislators would seek to grant the godless looting of local government funds by their Governor the imprimatur of a law passed by the state house of assembly – there is nothing we will not see in this country; maybe the next thing we will hear is that a law as been passed to legalise looting of public funds across board.
Soludo and his rabble pretending to be genuine lawmakers obviously have something sinister in mind, hence their commitment to anarchy.
This is how a country slowly disintegrates with its attendant parts working their different agendas and at cross-purposes.
We simply cannot tolerate that – we are one nation, one destiny, indeed, we are one Nigeria.
At a political level, these patently anti-democratic moves to dilute local government autonomy amount to undermining one of the best legacies Nigerians will historically credit to President Bola Tinubu for years to come.
Such a most egregious challenge to the authority of the judiciary and most abominable assault on the Constitution cannot be tolerated.
Maybe we should pass our own law at federal level to equally deduct a portion of federal allocation to the states and let’s see what the likes of Soludo can do about it – after all, two can play the game.
The last time I checked, the lovely and blessed Anambra State was still a part of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, unless Soludo and his house of assembly of rascals have joined an entirely different country from our collective nation called Nigeria.
Some Nigerians are often quick to complain about what President Tinubu has not done for them yet each time he does something obviously and incontestably good for the good people of this country, you find all kinds of naysayers trying to undermine his efforts at every turn.
Our President is determined to end hunger, reduce inflation, fight poverty, increase productivity, shore up our currency, boost our economy and manifestly deliver on his mandate.
By far the most important priority must be massive investment in agriculture, the biggest employer of labour in this country.
All tiers of government must key into this new agricultural revolution and the job cannot be left solely for the Federal Government to bear alone, with the states and local government areas conveniently shirking their responsibility in the hope that it is the Federal Government that will end up being blamed for the hunger in the land.
The local government councils are the closest tier of government to the grassroots and they need their money to be able to deliver for our citizens.
It is the duty of the Attorney General of The Federation and Attorneys General of the states to uphold the Constitution, defend the law and enforce the decision of the courts.
Soludo and his rabidly insurrectionist house of assembly have gone completely mad, just like those the gods wish to destroy, and, it is time to put them exactly where they belong.
Onokpasa, a lawyer, is Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, TMSG, and writes from Abuja.