Constitution Amendment And Call For Recognition Of Non-Existent Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) In Ondo State: A Call On The National Assembly To Act With Caution.
The 10th National Assembly recently commenced the process for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution. At the South West regional public hearing which took place at the Dome in Akure on 18th July 2025, the Governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Hon. Dr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa was widely reported to have advocated the listing in the 1999 Constitution of the 33 local council development areas (LCDAs) created by the immediate past Governor of the State, H.E. Late Arakunrin Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, CON as full fledged local government areas.
Meanwhile, it is public knowledge that in a judgment delivered on the 20th June 2024 by an Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure presided over by His Lordship, Hon. Justice A.O. Adebusoye, the 33 LCDAs created by the late Governor Akeredolu were adjudged to have been created in breach of Section 8(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and consequently declared illegal, null and void.
The suit leading to the voiding of the LCDAs was filed by the Akoko Development Initiative and 22 Ors in representative capacity on behalf of Akoko indigenes from the four local government areas in Akoko extraction of the State who felt and complained of marginalisation by the lopsided manner in which the LCDAs were allocated by the late Akeredolu.
Although the State Government has since filed an Appeal against the judgement, crucial steps which ought to be taken to prosecute the appeal especially the filing of an Appellant's Brief of Argument has not been taken, more than one year after the Appeal has been filed. This prompted the legal team of the judgment creditors to file a motion at the Court of Appeal, Akure for the dismissal of the Appeal for want of diligent prosecution. The Appeal as at today is laying fallow at the Court of Appeal waiting to be dismissed.
As it is today, there are no LCDAs in Ondo State as there is no Appeal properly so called against the High Court judgment which nullified the creation of the entities. There is also no specific order staying the High Court judgment. It is elementary that an appeal does not operate a stay of execution of a court judgment.
The mere fact that the Governor is allocating funds and making illegal appointments into the dead entities will not resurrect them from death. What should be done is for the Appeal to be prosecuted to a logical conclusion and not to employ delay tactics to justify acting illegally.
The National Assembly especially through it's delegation led by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, CFR is urged to act with caution on this issue as the National Assembly being a creation of the 1999 Constitution cannot arrogate to itself powers it does not have under the guise of constitutional amendment as a consideration of the advocacy of Governor Aiyedatiwa would amount to a usurpation of judicial powers by the legislative arm of government.
Vincent Adodo, Esq., LL.M, FIMC, CMC