Citizens must hold leaders to account — Lawyers

Lawyers have asked citizens to hold governors and individuals managing the country’s three arms of government accountable to the constitution.  

Speaking on the issue, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) described it as “a disturbing trend,” which he said was undemocratic.

He said there is nothing wrong with the laws but that practitioners of the country’s democracy should follow the constitution, which empowers the legislature and judiciary to rein in the excesses of the executive at the level of the state government. 

“Any state that has the right people in its legislature would not experience brazen excesses of the executive arm of government; the governor would constantly bear it in mind that he could be impeached if necessary. However, where the legislature is overwhelmingly made up of the stooges of the governor, that cannot be so,” he said.

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On the judiciary, he said it was incorrect to assume that governors control the judiciary, adding  that the judiciary still has “a duty to demonstrably impress its independence by its decisions in matters concerning the government of the state.

“All said, the clamour and agitation should be for the system to throw up the right people in the right places,” he added.

Similarly, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh (Esq), called on the public and those controlling the other arms of the government not to compromise their rights and disregard abuse of the law by governors.

“The court of law, especially, should stand for its independence from any external control and rule according to law always, regardless of who the law or their decision will be against,” he added.

He noted that the law did not grant any governor any control of the judicial arm of government except to the extent of judicial appointment.

“Constitutionally, the powers of governors are enormous compared to those of the federal government. This is because the powers exercised by the governor on the residual legislative lists are unlimited and indefinite in number. Hence, the governor of a state has more powers than those of the federal government.

“It is undemocratic for any governor to take or seek control of the other arms of government outside constitutionally conferred powers (as a check and balance) and ‘check and balance’ does not mean encroachment,” he said.