A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has cautioned President Bola Tinubu against issuing an executive order on direct funding for local governments, insisting that such a move is unnecessary following the Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to the 774 councils.
Falana made the position known during an exclusive interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme aired on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese Ijebu, on Tuesday.
He was reacting to remarks credited to Tinubu at the 15th National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress, where the President warned state governors to comply with the Supreme Court ruling or face a possible executive order mandating direct disbursement of funds to local councils.
According to the rights lawyer, the apex court has already settled the matter and what is required now is strict compliance, not fresh executive action.
“I’m not sure the President was properly advised on this matter,” Falana said. “The Supreme Court already gave a judgement. What is required is compliance, not another executive action.”
He explained that the judgement expressly directed the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant General of the Federation to remit statutory allocations directly to the bank accounts of local governments.
“The Supreme Court ordered that allocations should be paid straight into the accounts of the 774 local governments,” he stated. “Those accounts were opened last year in line with the judgement.”
Falana argued that the delay in implementing the ruling should not be blamed on state governments, insisting that the responsibility rests with the Federal Government.
“What we are witnessing is not disobedience by state governments,” he said. “It is the federal government that has failed or refused to comply with the judgement by not paying the allocations into those accounts.”
On the suggestion of an executive order, Falana warned that it could be counterproductive and legally unnecessary.
“The President does not need to threaten anybody with an executive order.”
“All he needs to do is to direct the Accountant General of the Federation that whenever statutory allocations are shared, starting from December 2025, the money should be paid directly to the bank accounts of the local governments,” he said.
He cited Section 287 of the Constitution, which mandates all authorities and persons to obey Supreme Court judgements, stressing that once the court has spoken, there is no room for discretion.
“When the Supreme Court gives a judgement, there can be no appeal against it. You cannot dance around it,” Falana said, describing continued non compliance as “a dangerous precedent in a democracy.”
The senior lawyer also called for greater transparency in the management of public funds across all tiers of government, urging the restoration of a system that allows Nigerians to track statutory allocations.
“Statutory allocations to the federal, state and local governments must be published monthly.”
That way, members of the public can monitor the movement of funds and hold their local governments accountable, ” they said.
According to him, transparency, rather than executive threats, is the most effective safeguard against misuse of public funds.
Drawing attention to past experiences, Falana recalled that Executive Order 10 signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 was challenged by state governors and eventually struck down by the Supreme Court.
“That is why this issue is not about executive orders,” he said. “What is important now is to obey the Supreme Court judgement and ensure that funds are paid directly to local governments, as ordered.”
He dismissed claims that legislative hurdles were responsible for the delay in implementing local government autonomy, noting that the court had already nullified the joint state local government account system.
“There is already a judgement on this matter. The Constitution provided for joint accounts, but the Supreme Court has said that provision can no longer stand. The money must go directly to local governments,” Falana said.
Falana expressed confidence that the President would be properly guided to take the constitutionally correct steps, stressing that in a democracy, obedience to court rulings is not optional.
“Our duty now is to enforce the law,” he said. “We must not threaten, delay or politicise what the Supreme Court has already decided.”
