Governors dissolving LG councils unconstitutional, Supreme Court rules

• In a landmark judgment on Thursday, the apex court barred the governors from dissolving local government councils

The unilateral and arbitrary dissolution of democratically elected local government councils by State governors violates the Nigerian constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled.

In a landmark judgment on Thursday, the apex court barred the governors from dissolving local government councils.

The apex court said the defendants (governors) just wasted their time in the suit.

Within Nigeria had reported earlier that the Supreme court granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in the country.

In its lead judgement read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme court chides governors for their decades-long refusal of autonomy for local governments.

Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, State governors have done everything to whittle down the power of local government councils and undermine effective and efficient local government administration in the country, a move that has hampered governance in the grassroot as the people are denied the dividends of democracy.