•••URGES HIM TO FOCUS ON LG AUTONOMY, CRUDE OIL ALLOCATION TO LOCAL REFINERIES
James Harrison, Abuja
A foundation member of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu has advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to beware of the Governors and special interests before they kill his two progressives milestones.
According to Okechukwu, these are the local government councils financial autonomy, achieved via landmark judgment of the Supreme Court, and allocation of 450,000bpd crude oil to local refineries,
He urged the President to ensure that he does not allow governors to scuttle them in a statement on Sunday.
He warned against the purported three months extension of the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment, saying the apex court did not grant such a bazaar to the governors.
He stressed that the President could risk contempt of court, if he allows the governors to goad him into putting the judgment on hold, even for a day.
Okechukwu said, “To me the two most outstanding progressive records of President Tinubu are the Supreme Court landmark judgment which conferred financial autonomy to local government councils and his allocation of 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil to local refineries. They should not be scuttled.”
He lamented that from the look of things the governors had goaded Mr President to not only dampen the power of the citizenry over local government council administration, but also to risk contempt of the Supreme Court landmark judgment.
He also cautioned the group he euphemistically dubbed ‘Special Interest’ for denying the citizenry the opportunity of availability and reduction of fuel pump price, debt burden and envisaged employment and stabilisation of the Naira, among other anticipated progressive gains from crude oil allocation to local refineries.
Okechukwu stressed further that the Supreme Court judgment did not create room for a delay in the implementation of local government councils financial autonomy for three months.
He condemned the purported extension as an illegality
“One just have to appeal to Mr President to beware of governors and special interest. My brethren you may not gauge how low APC’s approval rating is, which made us members to jubilate that our approval rating will rise again with the financial autonomy to local government councils and allocation of crude oil to local refineries, only for the celebration to be cut short.” He lamented
