THE Alimosho Local Council of Lagos State has dragged the House of Assembly before a Federal High Court in Abuja, alleging undue and illegal interference in its activities.
In a copy of the summon obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, October 8, in Abuja, the Council asks the court to hold that the Assembly and its Speaker has no constitutional power to perform oversight functions over its activities.
The plaintiff urged the court to hold that the Assembly cannot act as oversight over a democratically-elected executive of a local government that has its own democratically-elected legislative council.
Co-plaintiff in the suit is the Chairman of the council, Hon. Sulaimon Jelili, while the respondents include the Assembly; its Speaker; Attorney General of Lagos State; Inspector General of Police IGP); Lagos State Commissioner of Police and the Department of State Service (DSS).
The plaintiffs, in the suit filed by their lawyer, Dr. Abdul Mahmud, said the essential kernel of the case was to assert the autonomy and independence of local governments, pursuant to the recent decision of the Supreme Court.
They stated: “The point the suit emphasises is that local governments are not executive agencies of the Lagos State Government that the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, can exercise oversight functions over.
“The local government, as a separate arm of government, has its legislative arm that rightly regulates those areas, like markets that the Constitution has donated powers.”
On the facts of the suit, the plaintiffs alleged that the Assembly, led by Obasa, vide a resolution dated August 27, instructed the chairman of the council to disengage one of the its contractors, Mr. Omotolani Adedayo, who was contracted by the council for collection of market tolls.
In the resolution, the Assembly directed the council that, after disengaging Adedayo, it should enter into a formal contractual agreement with one Mr. Ejigbadero Abiodun.
Obasa allegedly threatened that if the council chairman refused to comply with the resolution and the directive of the Assembly, he would be suspended.
In an affidavit deposed to by the Secretary of Alimosho Local Council, Dare Ogunkoya, he asserted that the council chairman is constitutionally saddled with the duties and functions for establishment, maintenance and regulation of markets, parks and garages within its jurisdiction.
Ogunkoya stated that his constituents had, on numerous occasions, approached the council, saying they did not want the said Abiodun, being imposed by the Assembly, to collect tolls in the market.
He noted that the complaint by the constituents was communicated to the Assembly through a letter dated September 4 by the plaintiffs, adding that the action of the Assembly amounted to intimidation and usurpation of powers of the council chairman.
The plaintiffs, therefore, sought the court declaration that, by the combined reading and interpretation of Sections 7 and Item 1(e) of the Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, they are the only body permitted by the constitution to establish, maintain and regulate markets within their jurisdiction.
They sought the court declaration that the resolution of the Assembly is null and void for having no basis in law.
The plaintiffs also urged the court to declare that the Assembly has no constitutional powers to suspend the council chairman, urging the court to restrain the defendants from suspending the council chairman.
Speaking with NAN, Mahmud said the court processes had been served on all the respondents, but no date had been fixed for its hearing.
He noted that the resolution of the matter would set another precedent in the country’s jurisprudence, as it relates to local government autonomy, adding: “The suit is coming on the heels of the recent Supreme Court decision in Suit No: SC/CV/343/2024, AG Federation V AG Abia State & 35 Ors, which granted autonomy to local government.
“The existence and independence of the local government is still under threat from various quarters and the court’s interpretation of the questions put before it will further strengthen earlier decisions on the autonomy of local government.”
Recall that the Assembly on Monday, October 7, suspended the embattled council chairman indefinitely during plenary session, after lawmakers voted unanimously to remove Sulaimon over allegations of misconduct and defiance of the Assembly.
The vice chairman of the council, Mr. Akinpelu Johnson, was directed to assume control of its affairs.
But reacting to the development, Mahmud said the purported suspension of his client was unconstitutional and constituted blatant affront on the recent decision of the Supreme Court affirming the autonomy of local government under the 1999 Constitution.
He added that the action of the Assembly and the Speaker, despite having been served with the court document, is subjudice and a deliberate attempt to ambush and foist helplessness on the court.
The lawyer assured that the coercive actions of the speaker and the encroachment of the Assembly on the constitutional powers of the local government would be resisted within the bounds of laws.
