The Supreme Court of Nigeria decision delivered on 11th of July 2024 in the celebrated case of AGF vs. 36 Governors has rendered section 162 (6)(7) of the 1999 Constitution idle,and otiose.
The Supreme Court held in that local government are financially autonomous and not appendages of State governments.
Section 162 (6)(7) of the Constitution provide:
(6) The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils in the Federation Account shall also be allocated to the State for the benefit of their Local Government Councils on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
(7) Each State shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State.
In jurisprrudenial thought, the American Realist School of Thought asserts that law is nothing but what the Judge says is law.
Accordingly to the realist, Law is defined in terms of judicial decisions, not as a set of rules. Law originates from Judges, so the law is determined by what the Courts do, not what they law says.
One of the greatest American Jurist of the 20th Cenury was Justice Waddel Holmes. He lucidly defined law as the synthesis of the views of the bad man who awaits Court’s verdict and that of the good man who believes and obeys the law whether or not the Court is invited to pronounce on it.
Therefore , in the case of Attorney-General of the Federation vs 36 States, the Supreme Court has forcefully rendered unconstitutional, idle and redundant, section 162 (6) (7) of the Constituion.
The case is a classical example of law emanating from Judges not necessarily as a set or body of legal rules.
Okoi Obono-Obla Esq a veteran rights lawyer and former guber candidate, served as Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property and Special Assistant on Prosecution to President Muhammad Buhari.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Okoi Obono-obla Esq and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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