By Seyi Babalola
The presidency has chastised the 2023 Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for his silence on the Supreme Court’s decision providing financial autonomy to local governments.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has urged Obi to emulate Atiku Abubakar by responding to the historic decision and recognizing that the president is making Nigeria great.
Onanuga said on his X page that a good opposition should be able to praise its opponent.
He wrote: “Why is Peter Obi silent?
“More than 36 hours after the Supreme Court gave a landmark ruling, granting financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 local councils, Mr. Peter Obi, the defeated Labour Party candidate, has yet to utter a word on the epochal judgment.
“His silence confirms the belief that he is always quick to tweet unverified news about the Tinubu administration or our country.
“A good opposition statesman must be candid enough to applaud his political opponent when he has done some great deed. The Tinubu administration has succeeded in giving life back to our emasculated councils, using the instrumentality of the law.
“Even Atiku Abubakar has grudgingly admitted this. But Peter has been silent. He should break his silence and acknowledge that President Tinubu is making a great Nigeria possible.”
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that all federal funds for local government councils should be paid directly into their accounts.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who led a seven-member panel of justices, delivered the judgment in a suit filed by the federal government against the 36 state governors.
The court also prohibited the governors from receiving, tampering with, or withholding funds meant for local governments.
Furthermore, the court barred the governors from dissolving democratically elected officials for local governments and deemed such actions a breach of the 1999 Constitution.
