I have read the full text of a letter allegedly written by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’ Adua threatening to ‘direct necessary actions be taken by the relevant organs of State to defend the Constitution and preserve the authority of the Federal Government’ if the Governor Lagos State fails to dismantle the 37 Development Areas created in addition to the existing 20 Local Government Council Areas in Lagos State by Tuesday this week.
When Lagos State created additional Local Governments I was not convinced that the necessary referenda were conducted. Indeed I condemned at the time what I described as ‘arrangee’ referenda conducted in Local Government secretariats. On that score my position was that those proposed Local Government Councils were illegal. But then the matter went up to the Supreme Court. The apex court found as a fact that the state complied with all the steps required for creating new Local Governments and that what was left was for the National Assembly to make the necessary consequential amendments to the Constitution as required by section 8(5) of the Constitution.
The indisputable implication of the judgment of the Supreme Court is that the referenda were validly conducted and concluded and also that the Law passed by the State House of Assembly was validly done. The apex court however held that the process of creating the Local Councils was inchoate. ‘Inchoate’ means incomplete. It does not mean illegal.
The State government did what I consider to be sensible in the circumstances, namely, by reverting to the existing 20 Local Governments while the inchoate Local Councils were christened LCDAs. This is why it is shocking that the President who claims to respect the rule of law could be issuing this threat at this time when everyone is hoping that the fragile peace in the Niger Delta would last.
The threat of the President if carried out would amount to a blatant act of aggression and subversion of the rule of law and the principles of federalism. It would expose the President as a war monger who does not understand how aggrieved Nigerians are with his failure to deliver on any item of his advertised seven point agenda.
By the way which organs of state is Mr President referring to? Is he going to draft the army or the Police to seal up the Secretariats or level the Development Areas just as he did to Gbaramatu Kingdom? If that is his plan, I have little doubt that he would meet his waterloo in Lagos. The President seems to have run out of governance ideas and he is desperately seeking all means to heat up the polity in order to distract peoples’ attention from his embarrassing failings as a leader.
The President needs to substantiate the allegations that the LCDAs are being run on money allocated for the 20 Local Governments. It is not just enough to make the allegation.
I am opposed to the course Mr President has chosen on the Lagos Development Areas. It is not acceptable and should be resisted frontally and legally.
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BAMIDELE ATURU & CO.
24, MBONU OJIKE STREET, OFF AYINDE GIWA STREET,
OFF ALHAJI MASHA ROAD, SURULERE,
LAGOS STATE. NIGERIA. TEL.NO : 01-8043418,
08023128967, 08055999888, 08033375796, 01-7218732, 01-7910967.
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