The Supreme Court of Nigeria has ordered the 36 State Governors to file their respective defence to a suit instituted against them by the Federal Government.
The Federal Government is seeking for full autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.
The court also ordered the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, to file his reply within two days, after receipt of their defence.
Leading a seven-man panel, Justice Garba Lawal issued the order while ruling on an application for abridgment of time argued by the AGF.
Justice Lawal said that the decision of the court was predicated on the national urgency of the suit and the non-objection from the Attorneys General of the states of the Federation.
The Supreme Court held that filing of all processes and exchanging of same must be completed within the time and subsequently fixed June 13 for hearing of the suit.
Justice lawal ordered that the eight states that were not in attendance at Thursday’s proceedings must be served with fresh hearing notice.
The states whose Attorney’s General were absent in court, despite being served with hearing notice include Borno, Kano, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Sokoto.
