The disobedience of court orders in Edo state 

If there is anything that the current administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo in Edo state is increasingly being notorious for, it is in the manner it disregards court orders. The 18 suspended local government chairmen in Edo state at different times, secured judgments to remain in office. All the orders have been ignored. Governor Okpebholo seems to be completely disconnected from judicial reality and last year’s Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy.  

What is more worrisome is that, apparently taking a cue from the suspended commissioner for justice and the local government service commission chairman, the state government has also now adopted the habit of ignoring court orders such that today, there are over 10 of such judicial decisions that are being disregarded by the Edo state government. In many of the cases, the attorney-general (including SANs) have filed appeals and motions for stay of execution just to circumvent the law.

To the extent that Section 287 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which the president, governors, ministers and legislators swore to uphold has imposed a binding duty on all authorities and persons to obey the judgments of our courts, the flagrant disobedience to court orders constitutes the greatest threat to the rule of law. The silence of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to this dangerous trend is even more disturbing against the background that the NBA once boycotted courts to protest the flouting of a single court order by a military regime in the 1980s.

Apparently based on the directive of Governor Okpebholo, the Edo State House of Assembly made mockery of the Supreme Court’s judgment on local government autonomy when it suspended the chairmen and vice chairmen of the 18 local government councils for two months over alleged insubordination and gross misconduct.

Okpebholo had earlier written a petition to the assembly accusing the chairmen of refusal to submit financial records of their local government councils to the state government, describing their action as an act of insubordination and gross misconduct.

The suspension is a blatant disregard of the 2024 ruling of the Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, and the Supreme Court’s decision in a suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), which affirmed the autonomy and independence of local governments in the country as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution.

Reacting to the suspension, Fagbemi declared that governors lack the constitutional authority to suspend or remove local government chairmen from office. “Governors do not have the right to suspend or remove duly elected local government chairmen,” Fagbemi told journalists.

Similarly, the chairmen of all the 18 LGAs in the state have also rejected the two-month suspension, describing it as a “nullity” and a violation of court orders. 

Fagbemi issued a stern warning to state governors bypassing the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy, threatening to seek a contempt of court suit if the defiance continues. Fagbemi stated this in Abuja, at the 2024 annual conference of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents.

The Supreme Court, on July 11, 2024, delivered a landmark judgment affirming the financial autonomy of the 774 local government areas in the country and stopping governors from further control of funds meant for the councils. The apex court also directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay local government allocations directly to their accounts, as it declared the non-remittance of funds by the 36 states unconstitutional.

In a suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, aimed at strengthening local government autonomy as guaranteed by the constitution, Fagbemi also obtained a court order preventing governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government councils and establishing caretaker committees. In the unanimous judgment of its seven-member panel, the Supreme Court upheld the suit brought by the federal government to strengthen the independence of local governments in the country.

One notorious achievement we can tie to the Okpebholo government as the governor clocks 100 days in office in a few days is the dismantling of local government autonomy in Edo state—a brainchild and landmark achievement of President Bola Tinubu. observers have continued to express shock as to what prompted Okpebholo’s war on President Tinubu’s legacy, despite the president’s full support for his election. 

Upon taking over the office of governor in November last year, Okpebholo hurriedly lobbied the Edo State House of Assembly to suspend elected local government chairmen. Damning all legal counsel and court injunctions, local government secretariats in Edo have become shadows of themselves—dysfunctional, ineffective, inoperative, comatose, with Okpebholo’s illegal acting chairmen unable to exercise authority over councils’ affairs. 

While the public remains baffled by Okpebholo’s executive rascality, the presidency is said to be upset by the governor’s brazen disregard for Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy, prompting the Tinubu government to write off Okpebholo and shut its doors on the governor, who is said to have gone cap in hand begging for President Tinubu’s attention.