Local government autonomy: Tinubu warns governors, threatens FAAC allocation cuts

By: Abudu Olalekan

President Tinubu draws a hard line, threatening to slash state funds if governors ignore the Supreme Court’s order on LG autonomy.

The room was full, but quiet. Night meeting. Party bigwigs. Heavy suits. At the 15th National Executive Committee meeting of the APC in Abuja, everyone thought they knew the script. Speeches. Compliments. Strategy talk.

Then President Bola Tinubu picked one issue. And refused to dance around it.

Local government autonomy. The kind many Nigerians only hear about in court judgments and radio arguments. The Supreme Court has already ruled: local government councils should get their money directly. No more state governors sitting between them and the Federation Account.

But in reality? Not much has moved.

So, on that Friday night, Tinubu stopped sounding gentle. He warned that if governors kept dragging their feet on implementing the ruling, he was ready to act. Personally. With the tools only a president holds.

He reminded them what the Supreme Court had said. “Give them their money directly.” No confusion there. Then he added his own twist. If they waited for his Executive Order, he said, they might not like how it would look. “Because I have the knife, I have the yam, I will cut it,” he told the hall.

It was a very Nigerian metaphor. And a very clear threat.

Tinubu did not spell out every technical step. But he pointed at one big lever: FAAC – the Federation Account Allocation Committee. That’s where states line up every month for their share of national revenue. Oil money. Taxes. The lifeblood of state budgets.

“Otherwise,” he warned, “if you don’t start to implement it, FAAC after FAAC, you will see your allocation dwindling.”

In other words, comply with the judgment. Or watch your monthly allocation shrink. Slowly maybe. But surely.

For him, this is not just a legal argument. It’s about what happens in the villages and wards where government feels most real – or doesn’t. Tinubu said local governments must be allowed to function as real governments, not just as bank accounts controlled from state capitals. He tied their autonomy to grassroots development, to democracy that actually reaches people.

He accused those resisting the Supreme Court ruling of undermining the constitution itself. That’s a heavy charge. Still, he wrapped his warning in an appeal. He said he preferred cooperation, not open fight. He urged governors to act in “the spirit of partnership and national interest” rather than force him into a showdown.

Then he zoomed out. Beyond local government wars, he said the APC had to hold itself together. Unity. Tolerance. Less ego, more listening. “We say we are bigger. We are larger and taller,” he said, almost teasing the party’s own pride. But, he added, that size must show in their hearts too. Be accommodating. Be resilient. Be tolerant. Or this democracy they keep talking about could slip.

On security, Tinubu went where many past leaders hesitated. He backed the creation of state police, again. Not as a slogan, but as a tool to face banditry, terrorism, and growing crime. He asked the National Assembly to invite the Inspector General of Police, to discuss how to build safeguards, controls, and checks so state police units don’t become private armies. The message was clear: central policing alone is not working. Something deeper has to change.

He also spoke briefly about women in politics. More women in elective office, he insisted, wasn’t decoration. It was necessary. Then there was a small but important fight he picked: he warned the National Assembly against trying to centralise lottery and betting. Lotto, he argued, belongs under state control, not just federal hands. It sounded minor, but for states hunting for internal revenue, it’s a serious turf issue.

Others at the meeting took turns to praise him. Vice President Kashim Shettima called Tinubu’s political courage unmatched, saying anyone hoping to challenge his hold before 2027 was basically wasting time. “Politics rewards memory,” Shettima said, reminding the room that Tinubu had helped build the opposition culture that eventually put APC in power.

APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, announced a new nationwide e‑registration drive. The plan is to move party membership into the digital era, at least on paper. Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Governor Hope Uzodimma, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum, both lined up to describe Tinubu’s economic decisions as bold and strategic.

But when the microphones went off and people started drifting out, one line lingered more than the others.

“I have the knife. I have the yam.”

For governors still holding on to local government funds, that didn’t sound like a joke.