By Ade Philip
An Akure based Lawyer, Femi Emodamori, has faulted the Acting Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, for freezing accounts belonging to the 18 local government areas of the state, stressing that the development is outrightly unconstitutional.
Emodari in a statement signed by himself and obtained by Starnews on Saturday, noted that the freezing of the accounts “amounts to serious abuse of power and gross act of misconduct for which a governor could be Impeached.”
The lawyer, who doubles as the Counsel to the State’s House of Assembly, therefore said “I call on the Acting Governor to reverse himself on the illegal directive for the freezing of the local government accounts.”
The statement read, “A Governor has no power whatsoever under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), to freeze the account of Local Governments in a State.
“The purported freezing of the accounts of all the Local Governments in Ondo State by the State Acting Governor, His Excellency, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa is therefore a serious anti-democratic, unconstitutional and politically suicidal move which was probably born out of ill or improper legal advice.
“Section 7 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides that “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the Government of every State shall subject to section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such council.”
“Sub-section (6) (a) & (b) of the said Section 7 further provides that “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution-
“(a) the National Assembly shall make provisions for the statutory allocations of public revenue to local government councils in the Federation; and
(b) the House of Assembly of a State shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to local government councils within the State.”
“From the above provisions of the Constitution, it is clear that financial independence of local governments in Nigeria must be protected and not desecrated.
“In fact, in the case of INAKOJU V. ADELEKE (2007) 4 NWLR (PT. 1025) 423 at 586-587 PARAGRAPHS E –H, the Supreme Court (Per Niki Tobi of blessed memory) listed the instances of gross misconduct amounting to impeachable offence for a Governor or Deputy Governor to include “Abuse of the fiscal provisions of the Constitution” and “Interference with Local Government funds…”
Consequently, the Acting Governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, has by freezing the accounts of all the Local Governments in the State, consciously or unconsciously breached the constitutional provisions, a conduct which amounts to an impeachable offence as held by the Supreme Court. He therefore needs to be extremely careful.
“If the motive behind freezing the accounts is to investigate such accounts for possible fraudulent dealings, it would be a highly commedable motive.
“However, by virtue of Sections 33 and 34 of the Local Government Administration, Conduct of Local Government Election and Allied Matters Law, Cap. 87, Vol. 2, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, 2006, the power to investigate local government affairs is vested in the State House of Assembly and the Executive Arms of Government.
“The Executive can only perform such routine function annually through the State Auditor-General who is expected to still submit his audit report to the State House of Assembly under Section 53 (1) –(4) of the same Local Government Administration, Conduct of Local Government Election and Allied Matters Law.
“I believe the Acting Governor has been improperly advised in this regard, as freezing the account of Local Government Councils in the State for any reason whatsoever, amounts to serious abuse of power and gross act of misconduct for which a governor could be impeached.
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