Oyo ZLP governorship candidate, Sharafadeen Alli, has promised to make local government vibrant and autonomous if elected in 2019.
Alli, who was a former local government chairman, said that 2019 would provide another opportunity for stakeholders, including state legislators across the federation to work for the success of councils’ autonomy, saying “any state governor working against it is wicked and flouting constitutional requirement setting up the councils as the third tier of government.”
He stated this while speaking with journalists in Ibadan over the weekend ahead of the 2019 race.
“People should be wary of any governor opposing the implementation of the proposed local government autonomy because it is the only way the masses can have a sense of belonging in governance.
“If our local government is not autonomous, we will continue to have problems. Any governor who is against local government autonomy is wicked. I will support local government autonomy as a governor,” PUNCH quoted him as saying.
Recalling the recent constitutional amendment by the National Assembly which passed the baton for the local government autonomy to the state houses of assembly, Alli lamented the report that “12 out of 36 states took decisions on the bill with only nine states adopting the resolution of the National Assembly for local government autonomy while the remaining three rejected it, leaving 26 others to say that they are still consulting.”
Alli, a lawyer, said the development was worrisome and constituted a great disservice to the people. He therefore called on state houses of assembly to have a rethink and support the autonomy for local governments as the country enters the election year 2019.
