Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has been asked to put an end to the rampant disrespect to Court judgments, orders and pronouncements by politicians in the country.
Sacked local government officials in Imo State made the call while interacting with newsmen in Owerri, the state capital.
Deposed elected Chairman of Isiala Mbano LGA, Jude Mbachu, who spoke on behalf of the sacked officials, lamented that because of Malami’s perceived silence over the sack of local government elected officials by some governors in brazen violation of the law and pronouncements of the apex court, the act has continued unabated in many states, especially in Imo.
Mbachu noted that the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation has the exclusive responsibility of upholding public interest above personal or group interest in the country.
He said, “Already, there has been a judgement of the Supreme Court on the sack of council officials in Ekiti State. So, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has an opportunity to go to the Supreme Court to give effect to Section 271 of the Constitution and right the wrong in our local government system and this will help put a stop to these acts of impunity by governors.
“If the Supreme Court gave judgement that the governor has no right to sack elected chairmen and councilors in Ekiti State, that judgement should be binding on every state of the federation. But, Malami kept quiet and this disregard to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria continues”.
Mbachu advised the AGF to go to the Supreme Court against the 36 state governors and ask for interpretation of the Supreme Court on the matter to ensure no state governor tampers with any elected local government executive.
This, he said, would save time spent on litigations at the courts and enable the elected officials utilize the mandate given to them for public good.
“That way, the matter will be treated faster before the amendment of the Constitution rather than asking any elected local government official sacked or suspended by any governor to begin afresh to go to the High Court where the matter will spend up to 18 months at the court of first intance, 12 months at the Appeal Court and finally up to the Supreme Court where the matter will spend another six to nine months.
“We’re talking about how Nigeria can be fixed and you have a court judgment that asked the FAAC to stop releasing Imo council allocation unless to the elected chairmen. The minister of justice should have made efforts to protect the judgement of the courts of the land.
“That failure of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation is what has led to most elected local government officials being brazenly sacked by governors. And to say that 90 percent of the elected council officials in Imo, for instance, is made up of the youths is disheartening”.
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