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A’Court bars Ogun Electoral Commission from organising LCDA elections

A’Court bars Ogun Electoral Commission from organising LCDA elections

The Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, Oyo State, has ruled that the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission can no longer organise and supervise elections into the 37 Local Development Councils in the state.

The court made this ruling following an appeal filed by lawyer Oluwaseun Lawal against the judgment of the Ogun State High Court delivered by Justice AA Akinyemi on May 20, 2020.

The lawsuit, labeled CA/IB/292/2020, represents the state governor, the government, the attorney general, the House of Representatives and OSIEC.

In his argument before the Court of Appeal, Lawal argued that the new local government areas created by the House of Representatives under the Local Government (Creation and Transitional Provisions Amendment) Law, 2016, could not come into force and commence functioning as “Local Council Development Areas” by virtue of Section 2, sub-section (1)(ii) and Section 3 of the Local Government Law, 2016.

He pleaded that the Court of Appeal should determine whether the provisions of the LG Act 2016 empower the State Election Commission to constitutionally and validly conduct elections for elected positions in any or all of the newly created 37 LGAs that have purportedly come into force and are functioning as “Local Councils Development Areas”.

Lawal said the State Electoral Commission cannot give itself the power to recognise, organise, conduct and supervise elections in any of the ‘37 LCDAs’ purportedly enacted by Section 2 of the Ogun LG Act, adding that none of them are included in the list of local governments recognised by the 1999 Constitution.

He noted that the Constitution recognises only 20 LGs in the state.

Lawal prayed the court to declare that “the Ogun State Local Government (Constitution and Transitional Provisions Amendment) Act, 2016 is unconstitutional, null and void and therefore void insofar as it seeks to operate, operate or govern the 37 new local government areas as “local council development areas” even when the National Assembly is yet to discharge the sacred responsibility conferred upon it by Section 8(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He also requested the court to restrain the respondents from engaging in or allocating funds to any or all of the newly established 37 local governments or from holding elections for any elected office in the local governments.

He stated: “Since the 37 newly created LGAs have not yet been constitutionally recognised, the fifth defendant in this case, which itself is a constitutional creation with its powers expressly defined in the Constitution, cannot hold valid elections for any of the said 37 LGAs until the National Assembly discharges its responsibility under the Constitution to grant the 37 new LGAs the requisite constitutional recognition.

“It would amount to sheer illegality and clear violation of public policy if the first to fourth respondents were to continue to allocate government funds to the 37 fledgling LGAs to make them operational when the Supreme Court has clearly ruled that they are dormant until the National Assembly discharges the sacred responsibility vested in it.”