By Austin Ogwuda
THERE is already a Constitutional crisis at hand if Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that there shall be Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) is not expunged through an amendment to fall in line with the recent Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy.
Political Leader/Strategist, Chief Emma Ejiofor PhD who raised this concern in an interview with The Townhall, pointed out that the autonomy as declared by the Supreme Court is merely good on paper as it does not prevent any Governor from having his way in the local government Council in the area of control.
But the worrisome part of the situation on the ground following the recent Supreme Court Judgment, he posited, is the Constitutional provision regarding JAAC.
His words, “Is it possible for a Local Government Chairman that was nominated, coronated to tell his King (Governor) that I want to be independent. Is it possible, can your son or daughter who is under your tutelage to say that he or she is independent? Is not possible
“Is just a mindset of some people who felt that they have been shortchanged in their States. Can you climb somewhere with a ladder and you want to push that ladder down; is not possible because if you go through the Constitution, have you forgotten that there is a place that talks about JAAC (Joint Account Allocation Committee) and has not been expunged or amended.
“What are you going to do to that or is it not part of the same Constitution, go and read the Constitution, it is there. That there SHALL be not WILL, that remains.
“Again even if you bring the issue of election of the local government councils to be conducted by the federal and no longer State Independent Electoral bodies, what’s the difference.
Is it not the federal that is conducting State Houses of Assembly elections, can it go against what the governor wants, No!
“The federal government INEC does the House of Assembly elections, House of Representatives elections and Senate elections also conducted by them, tell me the one that has gone against what the State governor wanted, except in rare cases where there have disagreements.
“So, if those ones cannot go against the interest of the governor, how do you think this coronation of LG Council Chairmen who are like appointed Special Advisers or Commissioners will be different.
“You now want to because it does not favour you, you want to move if you are moving you move everything or let them turn it let State elections come before the Presidential; why do they conduct federal (Presidential) first so that the power still remain there”.
Continuing, Ejiofor said that “the problem is not autonomy; the problem in Nigeria is leadership. We don’t have leaders who think of the nation, think of their immediate communities.
“Once, they make you a leader today the next thing is how to fill your pocket, greed, avarice. So, election is not our problem, sharing money is not our problem, our problem is: do you have the right persons there because a Governor cannot appoint somebody, you say he should not go through that person.
“Have you not seen this system where a Commissioner will leave the position of a Commissioner to go for local government Chairman if he doesn’t have the blessing of the governor. Or can he lose Commissioner position and lose local government?
“These are coronations before we start talking about the perceived autonomy. So local government autonomy is not real, is not our problem.
Our problem as I earlier pointed out is leadership.
We need the leadership that is with the people that when you leave that position you will be able to comnune with the people not that they make you a local government Chairman the next thing you fly your family to Amsterdam every weekend.
“Go and visit local government councils and see how people come to work.
So in conclusion, selection of our leaders is the problem; tell me the Ward chairman that will oppose the governor and let me ask since this issue of the autonomy, how many local government chairmen have come out to speak about this Local Government autonomy apart from past local government Chairmen?”, he asked.