Ishola Williams Accuses Governors  Of  Destroying  Local  Government  System



Governors in the country have been accused  of destroying the  local government system by withholding funds meant for development at the grassroots level.

Gen. Ishola Williams (rtd) who made the remark at this year’s Democracy Day celebrations , which  also marked  25 years of the return to civil rule, said that allowing state governors to  control the  statutory Local government Funds is the bane of development.


Gen Williams (rtd) who  is the Pan- Africanstrategic group-Panafstrag  Chair,  said  he joined the clamour for direct disbursement of funds to the Third tier of government to facilitate development.

According to him, each state in the country should be allowed to conduct both local government election and governorship election and leave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  to conduct both the National Assembly election and Presidential election.

“We should not expect the  United States  to come down here to teach us how to conduct our elections. Let us do it in our own way.

Our Elections are too expensive because we spend  too much money because everybody involved in  the election wants  to benefit from it one way of the other’’, he  added. .

Williams  argued that there is no Presidential system anywhere in the world where local elections are conducted by the Federal government .

Gen Williams disagreed   with the argument that state governors would misuse the powers of state  police adding that the Federal government is  also doing same.

Speaking on the nation’s  economy, he said the  provision of free Education and Health services all over the country is the answer to mass poverty adding that only the late Chief Obafemi  Awolowo had the vision on how to tackle the country’s   problems.