The Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has signed the bills granting financial autonomy to the state House of Assembly and judiciary.
At a ceremony on Wednesday, Tambuwal said Nigerians had been misled to believe that governors were opposed to financial autonomy for the two arms of government. He said the governors are only against Executive Order 10 which President Muhammadu Buhari issued to force the issue.
“All of us do believe in the autonomy of the Judiciary and the Legislature, no governor was against financial autonomy as believed by many Nigerians.
“The back and forth was as a result of Executive Order 10, which President Buhari was inadvertently ill-advised to sign.
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“The constitution is self-enforcing. We believe in the constitution; not in Executive Order 10. Why should anyone believe in Executive Order 10? We do not believe in Executive Order 10,” Tambuwal said.
The governor insisted that the allegation is “wild and unsubstantiated” that the governors do not want the autonomy of the judiciary and legislature.
“The governors all believe in building democratic institutions,” he said, adding that the delay in implementing the autonomy was caused by Executive Order 10.
Tambuwal said when he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the National Assembly passed the Constitutional Amendment bill that engendered the autonomy of the Federal Judiciary, noting that no executive order was signed by the president at the time.
“The President does not need to sign any executive order for the operationalisation of constitutional provisions because the Constitution is self-enforcing. Why then should anybody believe that there has to be an executive order for governors to obey the grundnorm of the country?”
In his address at the signing ceremony, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Aminu Achida, thanked the governor for his support and cooperation with the two other arms of government in the state.
The spokesperson for Buhari, Garba Shehu, could not be reached on Friday for comment on Tambuwal’s remarks on Executive Order 10 signed by the president to ensure the autonomy of the legislature and judiciary in the states.
