The supreme court has ordered governors of the 36 states of the federation to file their respective defences to a suit instituted against them by the federal government.
In the suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, the federal government is seeking full autonomy for the country’s 774 local governments.
The federal government is also asking for an order preventing the governors from arbitrarily dissolving democratically elected councils.
At the court session on Thursday, a seven-member panel of the apex court also ordered the governors, who were represented by the state attorneys-general, to file their responses to the originating summons within seven days.
The court also ordered Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), to file his response within two days after receiving the responses of the states.
Garba Lawal, who led the supreme court panel, agreed with the AGF that abridgment of time was necessary in the case due to its national imperative.
The supreme court held that filing of all processes and exchanging of same must be completed before June 10.
The court then fixed June 13 for hearing of the suit.
Lawal ordered that the eight states that were not in attendance during Thursday’s proceedings must be served with fresh hearing notices.
The eight states are Borno, Kano, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Sokoto, whose attorneys-general were absent in court despite being served with hearing notices.
