The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of misrepresenting facts surrounding local government administration and federal allocations in the state.
The party chairman, Tajudeen Lawal levelled these allegations on Wednesday while addressing journalists at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo.
Lawal, said the governor’s recent statewide broadcast presented a distorted narrative of the legal status of local government councils and their officials.
Lawal stated that the governor wrongly described APC chairmen and councillors as illegal occupants of council secretariats, insisting that their return followed valid court decisions.
“The reinstated officials resumed duties on the strength of subsisting judicial pronouncements,” he said.
According to the APC chairman, a judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on February 10, 2025 nullified the process through which the officials were earlier removed.
He stressed that the ruling remained binding and had not been overturned and recalled that the dispute began shortly after Governor Adeleke assumed office.
He said elected council officials were replaced with caretaker committees, a move he described as premature.
Responding to allegations of tenure elongation, the APC chairman explained that issues before the Federal High Court concerned interpretation of tenure provisions, not an attempt to extend time in office.
“That action triggered the legal battles the governor now complains about. Seeking judicial clarity cannot be equated with tenure extension,” he said.
On the question of local government allocations, Lawal who dismissed claims that the Federal Government was withholding funds meant for Osun councils, argued that ongoing litigations initiated by the state government and its allies were responsible for delays.
“There are multiple court actions, including suits involving commercial banks, aimed at stopping the release of funds to elected council officials. Such cases, not federal interference, stalled disbursements,” he said.
He cited a recent Supreme Court judgment affirming local government autonomy, noting that the apex court held councils to be independent entities capable of managing their affairs, including litigation over funds.
Lawal said the judgment made it clear that state governments lacked the authority to act on behalf of local councils in financial matters.
“Any continued attempt to control council funds contradicts the spirit of that ruling,” he stated.
The APC chairman also criticised repeated attacks on former governor Gboyega Oyetola, now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, saying responsibility for current challenges lay with the present administration.
He called on Governor Adeleke to withdraw all pending suits relating to council funds and allow allocations to reach the grassroots.
DAILY POST had earlier reported that the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, in a statewide broadcast on Monday, demanded the immediate release of over ₦130 billion in statutory allocations allegedly withheld from the state’s local governments.
He had warned that the continued blockade is crippling grassroots governance and inflicting hardship on workers and residents.
Local governments across Osun State had been left without access to statutory funds amid an ongoing dispute over control of council secretariats, prompting calls for urgent federal intervention.
The governor also accused the former governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola of allegedly backing the continued occupation of local government secretariats across the state with police support, an action he said undermines democracy and the rule of law.
Also, Governor Adeleke insisted that the All Progressives Congress, APC, local government officials occupying the council secretariats have no mandate or tenure and that they must vacate immediately.
Reacting, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, challenged the claims made by Governor Ademola Adeleke in the broadcast.
The Osun APC insisted that the narrative surrounding local government administration and federal allocations was inaccurate.
DAILY POST also reports that a dispute also erupted within the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, in Osun State, as two rival chairmen on Wednesday issued opposing statements over the control, tenure and funding of local councils, escalating a public war of words.
In a statement released in Osogbo, ALGON chairman elected under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sarafadeen Abiodun Awotunde, accused another ALGON faction led by Samuel Idowu Abiodun, elected under the All Progressives Congress, APC, in October 2022, of issuing what he described as a misleading account of recent developments in the local government system.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ALGON faction led by Samuel Idowu Abiodun had rejected the allegations, insisting that delays in council projects were caused by ongoing litigations initiated by the state government.
