Even by extension, the State Governors pick members of the State Assemblies and those of the National Assembly.
The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes provision for the autonomy of the local governments in administering the resources and allocations given to them to cater for the yearnings and aspirations of the people within their localities. But the unitary style adopted by the governors had made it difficult for the elected representatives to carry out their statutory duties. The local government, which is the closest to the grassroots, has failed to do much to impact the lives of the citizenry due to the deliberate and wicked decapitation of that level of governance. And the irony is that the council chair is the most visible, most accessible to people at the grassroots, while the Governor and the President are up there, only for the reach of the elite.
In Ogun State, for instance, among allegation made by the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area, Wale Adedayo, against the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, are that: the monthly allocation, ecological fund and other subventions from the Federal Government have not been given to any local government in the state since 2021. He accused the governor of hijacking funds meant for the LGAs in the state. The LG boss, who was detained by the Department of State Services for four days, said in a letter he sent to the leader of the All Progressives Congress in the state and a former Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba: “Since we (Ogun State Local Government Chairmen) got on board in 2021, it has been ZERO Federal Allocation to each local government.” Adedayo also alleged that the trend of denying LGAs their federal allocations in the state began during the leadership of Ibikunle Amosun, a former Governor of the South West state.
During the constitutional amendment by the National Assembly, the open argument was that local government autonomy and functionality had been undermined by state governors who behave like emperors in their respective states and utilise local governments allocation, which goes into the state-local government joint account, which they operate as the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee.
When it came to the turn of the input of the states Houses of Assembly during the amendment talks, accusing fingers were pointed at the governors for preventing states’ lawmakers from concurring with constitutional amendment proposals. The governors have worked tirelessly to turn the Conference of Speakers and some states’ assemblies into political puppets, thereby undermining and delegitimising the legislative institution at the state level.
The state governments have crippled the economy of the local authorities by denying them the basic 10 percent Internally Generated Revenue, while rates, levies and other local government incomes have been taken over by the state governments.
What the local government chairman in Ogun State alleged in his further petitions to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the state governor are nothing out of this world that Nigerians don’t know. Perhaps, the only surprise, which some people see in his action, is the “temerity” to confront an emperor. Yes, an emperor. That is what many Nigerian governors are to local government chairmen.
So, when one of them turned out to be “rebellious” in Ogun State, as Adedayo appeared to be, the rest of the flock became scandalised and, in horror, they scrambled before their benefactor and crumbled before his feet, asking him for forgiveness on behalf of their black sheep. A party in the state said after the LG bosses under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter prostrated to beg Governor Abiodun: “It was shameful to see other affected chairpersons not voicing out for the deprivation. Instead of speaking up against tyranny, they went ahead to prostrate for a public office holder like themselves, what a dance of shame!”
But the party could be forgiven to have uttered this because those who coalesced before their governor understand better. Not done yet, after pleading so hard at the feet of the governor for forgiveness, the council councillors in Ijebu East, who had been cohabiting with the embattled chair for two years without any event, suddenly woke up to realise that their boss should be suspended until he too provided explanation to graft issues racked up against him. So, if he could challenge the governor, then what is stopping us from challenging him also, so they must have reasoned.
According to a document issued by the councillors, 15 allegations were levelled against the suspended chairman. The councillors accused him of “withdrawal of N4 million from LG account for empowerment in 2022, which never took place. Wastage of N2 million on Iṣẹṣe Day on August 20, 2022. Duty tour allowance of N260,000 for the chairman and other top functionaries in June 2023. Another duty tour allowance for the chairman and other top officials’ engagement in Abeokuta to the tune of N250,000, also ratified in June 2023. N426,000 was purportedly spent on the production of a report on the 2020 Jigbo Festival Ijẹbu-East when we were even yet to be elected. Claimant of N350,000 for the inauguration of Women in Politics in Ijebu-East in 2022; the money was not released to the group in 2022. Entertainment and other logistics expenses during the commissioning of a legislative building at N350,000 on April 18, 2023.
“Another entertainment on that same commissioning of the legislative building at N295,000 same day, 18th of April 2023. The second N8.2 million was sent from phase 2 of the project (table and the chair for schools) 20 chairs were made with N8.2m. N20 million allocation from the state is nowhere to be found. Another N15 million sent from the state went the same way without any project to show for it. Award of two boreholes at the cost of N1.8 million each totaling N3.6 million in August 2023. While he collects N3 million monthly as security votes, he has held on to the N300,000 monthly security vote of the Vice Chairman for about five months. He has refused to pay up despite several interventions and meetings on the issue by the ALGON executive, led by Tunde Emiola.
“Inability to account for over N2.5 million left in the Project Account of the council by the previous administration for the completion of a school at Kajola, Ogbere. The school remains uncompleted to date. Illegal tax collection from Okada riders and drivers via what the chairman called “levy” without the approval of the Legislative Council, which is double taxation for the people of Ijebu East at this tough period. Having received the above allegations, there is a need for a thorough investigation by the House.”
Indeed, it is not as if the LG bosses themselves are in most cases better than their lords in the state. Most of them are also tyrants who lord it over their Councillors and members of their constituency. The only difference is that while one does so on a larger scale, the other has a smaller chiefdom.
During allocation of funds after the monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee meeting in Abuja, the local government funds are channelled through what is called the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee, which is nothing but a joke. The JAC in the hand of the governor is like a pencil: check out members of the committee in any state and single out anyone of them that can look the governor in the eye and say “nonsense”.
Of course, the Ogun State House of Assembly also put up what in drama is called a cameo performance when it “summoned” members of the state JAAC before the chamber to explain whether it is true that local governments are denied their dues. The assembly knew what their answer would be and very swiftly, the JAAC men “confessed” that no fund was missing as if that was all there was in the petition of the embattled local government chairman.
What the public may not realise is that what the chairman alleged in his petition are nothing strange but his colleagues and the state assembly are still wondering which devil “pushed” the fellow to pull off such a suicidal attempt against their common emperor. The emperor too has not recovered from the shock of how “a common local council chairman” could elect to go to the market place to rubbish him.
And for such action, the poor LG boss was clamped into detention by the Department of State Services because of a petition sent by the Governor to the security agency, wherein he was alleged to have been making inciting comments that could jeopardise public peace.
The embattled chairman said the DSS “claimed there is a letter from the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, that I was making inciting comments against the state government but I told them that there was nothing like that or who did they say I have incited? They said that I was planning a protest but I said I don’t know anything about that and I told them that I had only done what my conscience said that I should and this I did with my other colleagues and chairmen even though they all ran back. My conscience is very clear in the letter I wrote to Chief Olusegun Osoba, the former governor of the state and a national leader of our party, APC.
“Some of the chairmen had input into the letter, I only did the editing of the letter, put my name there, and then sent it and what is written in the letter affects all the council chairmen, so it is not about getting their backing or not. So what the governor wanted me to do was to retract of what the letter contained, but I said that I won’t do that. The DSS later said the governor said that I have embarrassed him and I said if the governor felt that I have embarrassed him, I am sorry but the truth is that the facts are there for “I am not fighting with Governor Abiodun, he is my friend, he’s my egbon, my senior brother but my take is if the local governments are doing well, it’s all to the credit of Mr Governor.
“He is the one people will be talking about and I gave them the example of the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel between 2003 to 2011. If you go to the 236 wards in the state you will see the footprints of this government at the grassroots, the people will be saying Daniel did this, he did that but it was the local government chairmen that did all of these projects, yet people till today will be shouting the name of Gbenga Daniel. All of these were made possible because the governor allowed the local governments to have access to their federal allocations.
“So, I said the same thing will be happening if Governor Abiodun allows the local governments to have access to their funds. And then they came up with the issue of being sponsored, I am 57 and I know what is good for the people, no one is sponsoring me and they said that I should apologise and do a retraction but I said no. I said if the governor said that he was embarrassed I am sorry, but I equally added that if the governor had funded the local governments all would have been to his credit, I wrote all of this for the DSS.”
A whole lot is wrong at the state level, which has made the governor too powerful that whatever he says is law. At the state level, he is the party leader, an absolute leader for that matter; he picks whoever he wants to be what at any place. All candidates for the post of local government chairmen and councillors must be approved by the governor. So, once the governor raises up your hand as the next executive chairman of the local council, you can as well start your merriment because that is more important than any consequent “kangaroo” election.
In the first place, there is what is known as the State Independent Electoral Commission that conducts the local government elections. Anybody can go ahead and check it out that any SIEC anywhere is a bunch of pliable fellows, assembled by the state executives in cahoots with the state houses of assembly. Any wonder then that at any election conducted by the so called SIEC, all victorious candidates are those whose hands were raised by governors. Everything has always been a landslide victory for the governor’s party.
We will suggest that everybody, starting from the President, should stop being hypocritical about the happenings at the local government level. What happens there is like an open book. And to revive proper developmental governance at that level, efforts must be made to work on the constitutional amendment that would make it possible to make their funds accessible to them to carry out their statutory functions, with the Councillors, who constitute the Assembly at the Council level and the States Houses of Assembly performing their oversight duties without fear or favour.
