Govs To Review Supreme Court Verdict On LG Autonomy, Says Soludo

Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State says governors will review the Supreme Court verdict that granted financial autonomy to local government councils.

Soludo spoke on Thursday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja and described the verdict by the apex court as “great”.

“That’s great. I mean, the Supreme Court is the final authority and I am a democrat. I believe in the rule of law. And once the Supreme Court has spoken, it has spoken. Tonight, I think the Governors Forum is meeting to review this,” he said.

According to him, the move will free up funds for local government areas and promote accountability.

“We need to promote accountability. We need to promote transparency in the utilisation of public resources at all levels, to be able to lift the burden of the common man,” the Anambra State governor said.

Soludo re-echoed his resolve to conduct local government elections in the South-East state after years.

“When I was elected into office, that’s one of the things I promised our people [to conduct local government election] because in Anambra, I think the first local government election we had was in 1998.”

He said, “I promised the people of Anambra that we’re going to have local government election, and I stated that in my inaugural speech. We’ve just passed the Independent Electoral Commission Law of Anambra State and we’re putting together the institutions to be able to organize that. It is a promise I made and when I make a promise, I am serious about keeping it.”