The Federal Government has announced plans to initiate criminal actions against elected officials who collaborate with governors to divert allocations intended for the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.
The announcement was made by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in line with a recent Supreme Court judgment that granted financial autonomy to local governments.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Abuja Chapter of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC), Fagbemi described the act of diverting LG funds as an impeachable offence.
He emphasized that the Federal Government is aware of some governors placing their loyalists in local governments through fraudulent elections.
Although the Federal Government does not have the authority to interfere with local government elections, the AGF made it clear that elected officials who mismanage funds allocated to them from the federation account would face legal action
