A constitutional rights activist, Oluwaseun Lawal, has urged the Court of Appeal in Ibadan to nullify the 37 Local Council Development Areas created by the Ogun State government.
Lawal wants the court to declare unconstitutional the Ogun State Local Government Law 2016, enabling the creation of the 37 LCDAs.
He argued that it was unconstitutional for the Ogun State government to unilaterally create councils without resorting to the National Assembly.
He added that he did not see how the state government would fund the LCDAs.
Lawal had earlier in 2020 challenged the creation of the 37 Ogun LCDAs before the Ogun State High Court in Abeokuta.
However, Justice A.A. Akinyemi dismissed the suit marked CA/IB/292/2020, for lacking in merit.
The judgment, in his May 20, 2020 verdict, held that: “I find and hold that the Local Government
Creation and Transitional Provisions Amendment Law of Ogun State 2016 is neither unconstitutional nor null and void. To the contrary, I hold that it is valid and constitutional.”
Dissatisfied, however, Lawal approached the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, seeking to overturn Justice Akinyemi’s verdict.
In his notice of appeal, marked AB/559/19, the lawyer contended that the lower court misapplied the law and miscarried justice.
He said, “The trial judge was wrong and in grave error in resolving this issue in favour of the respondents.
“The law remains that the 37 newly created Local Government Areas cannot operate until the National Assembly amends Section 3(6) and Part 1 of the First Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.”
The respondents in the appeal are the Governor of Ogun State, the Ogun State Government, the Attorney General of Ogun State, the Ogun State House of Assembly, and the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission.
Lawal wants the court to pronounce that: “The provisions of the Local Government Law, 2016 of Ogun State must align with the 1999 Constitution.
“The 1st to 4th defendants cannot constitutionally fund the 37 newly created Local Governments Areas as ‘Local Council Development Areas’ without an
Act of the National Assembly amending Section 3(6) and Part 1 of the First Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.”
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