LG autonomy: Osun rep urges states to obey Supreme Court

A Member of the House of Representatives from Osun State, Hon Busayo Oluwole Oke, has urged state governments to fully comply with the Supreme Court judgments on local government autonomy, insisting that the rulings are binding. Oke, who is Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the call in a statement issued in […]

A Member of the House of Representatives from Osun State, Hon Busayo Oluwole Oke, has urged state governments to fully comply with the Supreme Court judgments on local government autonomy, insisting that the rulings are binding.

Oke, who is Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the call in a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend.

He said Nigeria’s constitutional democracy was founded on the supremacy of the constitution and the finality of judicial interpretation, stressing that once the Supreme Court had spoken, all arms and levels of government were duty-bound to obey.

He said the recent pronouncements by the apex court on the administration and financial autonomy of local governments might have reignited national debates, but that personal or political opinions could not override constitutional obligations.

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The lawmaker warned that no House of Assembly, including that of Osun State, had the constitutional power to enact laws that overrode, diluted or circumvented Supreme Court judgments on local government autonomy, describing any such attempt as unconstitutional, null and void.

He further noted that even the National Assembly could not reverse a Supreme Court judgment through ordinary legislation, explaining that the only lawful means of altering such decisions, where necessary, was through constitutional amendment carried out transparently and applied prospectively.

However, Oke said compliance with the court’s rulings did not render state governments powerless, noting that states still retained wide latitude to enact laws that strengthened local government democracy without undermining autonomy.