Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mike Aondoakaa has warned that the Federal Government’s actions risk undermining both constitutional order and judicial authority, regarding the controversy surrounding the disbursement of local government funds in Osun State that has taken a new turn.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Aondoakaa stressed that the issue goes beyond partisan politics, pointing to a dangerous precedent that could weaken Nigeria’s democratic framework if not addressed properly.
“The issue seems to be very confusing, confusing in the sense that we have a settled position of the laws that local government funds cannot be withheld. And that was decided in the case, as far back as you know, involving Lagos State, by the Supreme Court.”
He explained that while the constitution guarantees that local government funds must be released, such funds cannot lawfully be paid to unelected administrators. According to him, this constitutional safeguard is often ignored by state governments who habitually dissolve duly elected council chairmen and councillors, despite Supreme Court rulings that protect their fixed tenures. Citing past examples, he noted,
“Sometimes those tenures, it happened in Makurdi, Benue State, where an administration came in and terminated the appointments of duly elected chairmen. The matter went up to the Supreme Court, and the court awarded damages against the Benue State government.
“Unfortunately, the local government could not be, the chairmen could not be brought back, but they were paid their full salary to the end of their tenure, even though they were dissolved.”
Aondoakaa stressed that this pattern has been repeated across states, including the present case in Osun, observing that while the Supreme Court has ruled that local government allocations should be sent directly to the councils, the situation in Osun is complicated because “It does appear that something went wrong, the tenure of those local governments is still in existence, and it has not expired, but unilaterally they were dissolved, and that might have been the confusion that is around.”
He further warned that the Federal Government may have overstepped its bounds by allegedly opening new accounts for the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and directly releasing funds to them while the matter is still before the courts. “If they were properly removed by court order, that is unfortunate. But the only way I have always said and I will re-emphasise is that we must obey the court orders. If a court order, no matter how you feel about it, the only remedy is to appeal against it until you reach the highest court.”
Aondoakaa agreed that such actions, if proven, were improper, “Since the matter is subjudice, I will not go deeper on that. But to answer you, if the facts are the way you have presented, I don’t think it’s proper. If truly that money was paid, it will be unfortunate, the Supreme Court in cases where there’s continuous violation of subsisting court orders, that is the way they react.”
He recalled that in the Zamfara case, the Supreme Court voided an entire election because the ruling party violated internal processes despite pending court actions, stressing that the judiciary has demonstrated in the past that it can act decisively in the face of impunity. “We have to be very careful. We have to make sure the states understand that local government is another tier of government. The constitution gives the State House of Assembly the power to enact legislations on local government, but it does not in any way give them the power to dissolve.”