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The controversy over the creation of 37 additional councils by the Lagos State Government has been reignited as the Federal Government said yesterday that the state must disband the Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) and revert to the constitutionally recognised 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federa-tion, Chief Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), stated Federal Govern-ment’s position on the matter while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
He said Government would do “everything within the law” to avert the “constitutional breach which the action of the Lagos State Government was out to achieve”.
Asked whether he had studied the response of the Lagos government on the matter as directed by the President, the minister said: “I have nothing to study… the law is there… the President directed me and I have replied him. What do you mean by studying the matter? The judgment is there, the judgment of the Supreme Court is thorough. What do I have to study? There is no going back on the matter.”
Aondoakaa added: “What we are trying to do is to protect the integrity of the Constitution and ensure that nobody violates the constitution. The danger which the President is trying to avoid is not to allow the Lagos State believe that the amendment of the Constitution is a one-way thing; no, it is a two-way thing between the State Assemblies and the National Assembly. I as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation cannot sit here and allow the Lagos State Govern-ment violate the Constitution.”
Also reacting to the issue, Interior Minister Demola Seriki stated that as much as he was not opposed to the creation of more councils in Lagos, the exercise must not be done illegally.
“This government is not in opposition to the creation of additional LGAs. I, as a Lagosian and a minister from Lagos State, am not opposed to such as well but we cannot in the name of that legitimise illegality. The 37 additional Local Council Develop-ment Areas are not in the constitution. We cannot continue to be mischievous about it and engage all sorts of altercation in resolving issue between the Federal Government and the states,” Seriki said.
Yar’Adua had, in a memo dated July 14, 2009, asked the Lagos State government to revert to the constitutionally recognised 20 councils by tomorrow, threatening to “direct that necessary action be taken by the relevant organs of state to defend the constitution and preserve the authority of the Federal Government”.
In his reply, Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos had questioned the motives behind Yar’Adua’s threat letter and maintained that the Supreme Court never declared the councils illegal.
Fashola listed four laws under which the October 11, 2008 elections were conducted into the 57 councils, namely: The Creation of Local Government Areas Law No. 5 2002; The Creation of New Local Government Areas (Amendment) Law No. 15 of 2004; The Creation of New Local Government Areas (Amend-ment) (No. 2) Law No. 15 of 2005; and The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission Law 2008.
He said the case of Attorney General of Lagos State v Attorney General of the Federa-tion [2005] 2 WRN 1 which was quoted by the President to justify his opposition actually affirmed the validity of the two laws: The Creation of New Local Govern-ment Areas (Amendment) Law No. 15 of 2004; and The Creation of New Local Government Areas (Amendment) (No. 2) Law No. 15 of 2005.
Quoting Justice Muhammadu Uwais’ judgement which affirmed the right of Lagos to create councils, Fashola noted that the former Chief Justice of the Federation said the laws were valid but “inchoate” until the necessary steps as provided by the Constitution were taken by the National Assembly.
The governor also quoted Supreme Court Justice Iguh who declared that the creation of councils was “unquestionably constitutional”.
Fashola said he disagreed with the advice given to the President to the effect that the decision of the High Court in Chief Taiwo Joseph Tovi-Hungevu v Abraham O. Ogabi suggests that the 2002 and 2004 council creation laws were null or void.
He also said he found it “curious and worrying” that the President chose to act on an advice that a lower court can pronounce illegal what the Supreme Court has declared valid.
The President, while preparing to travel to Brazil last week, said he would dialogue with Lagos over the matter.
Last night, Fashola said he was not bordered by the Federal Government’s decision asking the state to revert to 20 LGs.
He spoke to correspondents at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress has warned against any moves by the Federal Government to seal off any of the LCDAs created by the Lagos State government.
Also, the party dared the Federal Government to heed the advice of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to seal off the LCDAs and face the consequences.
AC, reacting to PDP's National Legal Adviser Olusola Oke, that "part of the steps Mr. President can take is to cause the illegal local governments to be sealed off", the party said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that such counsel exposes the PDP as a dictortorial government.
PDP had in a statement advised President Yar’Adua not to seek legal redress as no matter is ever adjudicated upon twice.
According to AC, "how can such a piece of advice come from a ruling party in a democratic dispensation? If the PDP’s Legal Adviser were truly a lawyer, he would have advised the President to seek redress in court, rather than encouraging him to engage in self help.
``We are not surprised, however, at the quality of advice coming from the ranks of the PDP. After all, the party has vowed to rule Nigeria, by hook or crook, for 60 years. To do that, it must resort to undemocratic means."