An Ondo State based legal practitioner, Barr. Femi Emodamori has written Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa over continuous refusal to grant financial autonomy to legislative and judiciary arms of Government in the state.
Below is the full text of the letter;
15th February, 2024
Our Ref: FEE/GOV/ODS/I.002/024
His Excellency, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa
The Governor of Ondo State
Governor’s Office, Alagbaka G.R.A
Akure.
Your Excellency,
A CALL TO STOP FINANCIALLY SUFFOCATING THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY AND THE JUDICIARY AND ENFORCE THEIR FINANCIAL AUTONOMY TOTALLY, AS STIPULATED IN THE 1999 CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS OF ONDO STATE.
The constitutionally guaranteed financial autonomy and integrity of State Houses of Assembly was again subjected to recurring serious public ridicule in Ondo State when, a few days ago, the media was flooded with the news and videos of Your Excellency presenting Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, in what the subsequent official statement issued by the State Government described as a demonstration of Your Excellency’s “support for the legislative arm of government”.
I watched the Hon. Speaker of the State House of Assembly beaming with smiles and bending over his knees when receiving the car ‘gift’.
The vehicles were reportedly purchased with or from about the N429 million provided for in the 2023 budget of the State House of Assembly for procuring official vehicles for her principal officers. Therefore, they are not ‘gifts’ from the Executive or Mr. Governor. However, the House does not, and has never been allowed to, control its own finances and budgets. Rather, the executive arm spends money meant for the House on behalf of the House leadership.
I am privileged to know that today, the House cannot raise just Two Million Naira (N2m) to meet its capital or recurrent expenditure without going cap in hand to the Executive.
In fairness, Your Excellency did not start the financial emasculation or subjugation of the House. Even my big brother and mentor, the late Governor Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN did not do much to accord the House its financial autonomy, apparently because, as a wise man once reminded us, a slave who loves his chain will remain perpetually in bondage.
So, as I watched Mr. Speaker virtually kissing the feet of Mr. Governor during the public presentation of the vehicles, I felt a sense of pity rolled into indignation for the Speaker’s understanding (or lack of it?) of the constitutional provision of financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly.
Section 121 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) initially provides financial autonomy for the State Judiciary alone by stating that “Any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.”
However, there was a consistent agitation by Nigerians for financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly, for them to be in a better position to checkmate the obvious financial recklessness, treasury looting and other excesses of most of our State Governors.
Your Excellency, that agitation led to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration Act) 2017. The Act was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in June, 2018, and its Section 2 amended the above quoted provision of Section 121(3) of the Constitution as follows:
“Section 121 of the Principal Act is altered by substituting for subsection (3), a new subsection “3” “3” Any amount standing to the credit of the-House of Assembly of the State; and Judiciary in the Consolidated Fund of the State shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of Judiciary, such amount shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.”
It is clear therefore that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration Act) 2017 has provided financial independence for Ondo State House of Assembly, just like any other State House of Assembly in Nigeria.
In fact, to complement the above constitutional provision, the House passed the Ondo State Legislative Funds Management Law, 2021, Section 1 (1) of which expressly states that:
“As from the commencement of this Law, the Ondo State House of Assembly shall manage its capital and recurrent expenditure in accordance with the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, and other relevant laws.”
In the same vein, long before the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution, Ondo State had enacted its own Judiciary Self-Accounting Law, Cap. 71, Vol. 2, Laws of Ondo State, 2006, as far back as 24th March, 1984.
Section 1 (1) of the Law clearly states that “The State Judiciary shall be self-accounting”, while section 2(1) thereof further states that:
“The Accountant General shall pay into the Ondo State Judiciary Account in advance for every quarter of the year, that is to say, in January, April, July, and October every year, monies due to the State Judiciary by way of statutory allocation for recurrent expenditure pro rata for that quarter:”
In view of the above clear provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and our own validly enacted Laws in Ondo State, it is shameful that we are yet to implement the financial independence of the House of Assembly, and much more disgraceful that the leadership of the House is not committed to enforcing its own financial autonomy.
If the House cannot assert and protect its own constitutional right and interest, how would it protect the right(s) and interest(s) of those of us represented by her members? If the Judiciary also cannot assert and protect its own constitutional right to financial autonomy against the State Executive, where lies the hope of the common man in securing his right and interest through the courts? These are the serious issues bothering me, Your Excellency.
Too many things have gone wrong for too long, and some of us often say, the problem is not the law. There is nothing we need to run a civilized and decent system that our laws have not provided for already. The problem is the deceit, docility and decadence of those entrusted with the task of enforcing the laws.
Your Excellency has the duty and opportunity to correct some of these serious constitutional anomalies.
But the battle to rescue our nation is for all of us. For me as a lawyer, I am always guided by the admonition of the first indigenous Nigerian lawyer, Chief Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams (1855 – 1915) that “A Lawyer lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his society.”
Consequently, I hereby call on Your Excellency to immediately direct the State Accountant-General to:
Pay any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State to the heads of the courts concerned in advance for every quarter of the year, that is to say, in January, April, July, and October every year, monies due to the State Judiciary by way of statutory allocation for recurrent expenditure pro rata for that quarter, as required by Section 121 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Sections 1 (1) and 2(1) of the Ondo State Judiciary Self-Accounting Law, Cap. 71, Vol. 2, Laws of Ondo State, 2006; and
Pay the money budgeted for the capital and recurrent expenditure of the State House of Assembly directly to the House, in line with Section121 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Forth Alteration) Act, 2017 and Section 1(1) of the Ondo State Legislative Funds Management Law, 2021.
In the event that Your Excellency fails to take concrete steps to enforce the above provisions of our Laws by complying with the above demands, I would institute an action against Your Excellency and other officials of the Ondo State Government to enforce compliance.
Kind regards.
Yours faithfully
Femi Emmanuel EmodamoriCc:
The Right Hon. Speaker
Ondo State House of Assembly
State House of Asembly Complex
Alagbaka GRA, Akure.
The Hon. Chief Judge of Ondo State
Office of the Hon. Chief Judge
Ondo State High Court Complex
Hospital Road, Akure.
The Right Hon. Speaker/My Lord, the Hon. Chief Judge,
The above is for your information, please.
Yours faithfully
Femi Emmanuel Emodamori
(Ondo state based lawyer)
