The chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, in Delta State, Prof. Godini Darah, says it is unbelievable that the Federal Government took legal action against the 36 state governments over the administration and control of the 774 local government areas in the country.
In a statement over the weekend, Darah said: “It is laughable that the Federal Government has sued the states over the administration and control of local government areas.
“In point of law, states should sue the Federal Government for usurping their powers over the councils. Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that there shall be democratically elected local councils in the country, which states should create, administer, and fund,” he said.
According to him, the Federal Government has no business with the creation and running of the 774 councils in the country.
He added that the councils do not constitute a tier of government in the federal system, stressing that the Federal Government in Abuja and the states are the tiers of the government or federating units.
“It is the various military junta regimes that imposed an unworkable and corrupt unitary system on the country from 1966.
“With military fiat, junta heads arbitrarily created local governments, dashing 44 to resource-famished Kano and only 20 to Lagos, which is more populous and richer than Kano.
“This injustice has prevailed for nearly 50 years, leading to the robbery and fleecing of resource-endowed states like those in the oil-rich Niger Delta and Lagos.
“Let me add that this matter was exhaustively discussed at the 2014 National Confab. It was unequivocally resolved that Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution be respected. Only the states can create, administer, and fund democratically elected councils,” he stated.
The Delta PANDEF chair said it was an irony that President Bola Tinubu, who as governor of Lagos then, battled ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo on the matter was doing worse than what he fought Obasanjo over.
Darah further stated that the states will floor the Federal Government in the legal combat.