Atiku: Tinubu playing politics with Supreme Court Judgement on LG autonomy
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately kickstart the implementation of the local government autonomy delivered by the Supreme Court.
Atiku in a post on his social media platforms on Wednesday accused President Tinubu of playing politics with the Supreme Court judgement, saying that his refusal to act is a calculated political move “using obedience to the law as a bargaining chip to force opposition governors into the All Progressives Congress, (APC).”
He said the situation does not require the threat of Executive Order, adding that all the President needs is to “instruct the Attorney-General of the Federation to enforce the judgment immediately. Anything short of this is a failure of leadership.”
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) member wrote, “Dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by July next year, your administration will have spent two full years deliberately ignoring a binding judgment of the Supreme Court directing the Federal Government to implement direct FAAC allocation to local governments.
“This is not delay. It is defiance. Your refusal to act is a calculated political move—using obedience to the law as a bargaining chip to force opposition governors into the APC and to keep governors within your party firmly under your control. In doing so, you have reduced the Constitution to a tool of convenience and governance to partisan bargaining.
“Let us be clear: Supreme Court judgments are final, not optional. Persistently refusing to enforce one is a direct breach of the Constitution and a violation of the oath you swore to Nigerians.”
Atiku further lamented that, “Local governments are the closest arm of government to the people. By withholding their financial autonomy (which ironically you’ve been trumpeting as a core cardinal policy), you are not weakening governors, you are crippling communities, stalling development, and deepening poverty at the grassroots.
“Roads remain broken, health centres abandoned, salaries unpaid not by accident, but by choice.
“This situation does not require threats of Executive Orders or political drama. The solution is simple: instruct the Attorney-General of the Federation to enforce the judgment immediately. Anything short of this is a failure of leadership.
“Your continued inaction sends a clear message: that political control matters more than constitutional duty, that party dominance matters more than economic justice, and that regime survival outweighs the daily suffering of Nigerians already battered by harsh economic policies.
“Nigeria deserves leadership that obeys the law it swore to protect, not one that bends it for political gain. History will not forget this moment. Nigerians will not either.”