Outrage as NULGE rejects Osun allocation transfer to APC chairmen

Amid the ongoing crisis over the leadership of the Osun State local government areas, the National Union of Local Government Employees has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the suspected move by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to release the allocations meant for the Osun local government areas to persons not recognised by law.

NULGE, in a statement by its President General, Aliyu Kankara, made available to The PUNCH on Thursday, accused the AGF and the CBN of planning to release the allocation to unauthorised persons in the LGAs.

This came as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Musibau Adetunbi, raised the alarm over what he described as an unconstitutional decision by some federal government officials to divert local government funds in Osun State for the use of the All Progressives Congress.

Adetunbi, who leads the Osun state government’s legal team in the ongoing tussle for control of local government councils, called for restraint and respect for the rule of law on the vexed issues.

In a statement on Thursday, he described as “politically motivated and unlawful” a recent directive by the Accountant General of the Federation to the Central Bank of Nigeria to send statutory allocations of the local government councils to the APC State Secretariat in Osogbo instead of the official Ministry of Local Governments at the Osun State Government Secretariat at Abere, Osogbo.

He also urged the APC to desist from using its federal influence to subvert the judicial process and distort the interpretation of the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which, according to him, did not favour the party.

He stated, “It must be noted that even in the first judgment of the Court of Appeal, which was delivered on 10th February 2025 in Appeal No: CA/AK/270/2022, prayer (G) in the Amended Notice of Appeal filed on 12th January 2023 specifically prayed thus: “An order restoring the appellants into their offices having been duly elected by the citizens of Osun State.”

Adetunmbi argued that the appellate court, however, found the request to be “an academic exercise,” and questioned whether any court or authority could enforce a prayer it had explicitly dismissed on that basis.

Adetunmbi added, “The fundamental question begging for an answer is: whether a court of Law and Equity and/or any authority whatsoever, can enforce a prayer specifically requested for but which the court found the request to be “an academic exercise”? My little knowledge of the law tells me loud and clear that it is not practicable. It is not possible to enforce any prayer whose request had been specifically declared and/or adjudged as an academic exercise

“If the APC believes that it was wrong for the Court of Appeal to have declared its request as an academic exercise, the proper thing to do is to go to the Apex Court and not to hold the entire State to ransom simply because today, it is the party in power at the Federal level. Certainly, after today, there will be tomorrow.

“Thus, even if one closes his eyes to the second judgment of the same Court of Appeal delivered on 13th June 2025 and the clear pronouncements contained therein, there is nothing in the first judgment which favours the APC.

He described the directive allegedly issued by the Accountant General as a blatant attempt to divert local government funds meant for Osun’s 30 LGAs for partisan use.

Adetunmbi added, “The fact that the Accountant General of the Federation could even direct his letter of payment of statutory allocations meant for the Local Government to the APC State Secretariat in Osogbo instead of the Ministry of Local Governments at the Osun State Secretariat at Abere, Osogbo, shows beyond any iota of doubt that this is not about law and fact. For me, it is a clear act to divert the Local Government funds meant for the 30 Local Government Areas in Osun State for obvious political reasons. After all, when President Obasanjo wrongfully withheld Lagos’ Local Government money, it was not sent to the PDP.”

The NULGE president, Kankara disclosed that a purported letter from the AGF’s office requesting that signatories be presented to open an account with the CBN was in contravention of the fiscal autonomy of the LGAs.

Kankara referenced a letter dated June 10, 2025, purportedly signed by one Okolie Rita O., FCA, from the Accountant General’s office, instructing that two officials—chairmen, treasurers, or directors of finance—endorse letters to activate accounts opened by the CBN for each LGA in Osun.

He said the directive contravened laws on local government fiscal autonomy.

He said, ‘On June 10, 2025, a letter signed by one Okolie Rita O. FCA, emanated from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, directing that any two of the Chairmen, Treasurers or Directors of Finance and Administration or Personnel Management in each of the Local Governments in Osun State should endorse an application letter for the opening and maintenance of the accounts earlier opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria for each of the Local Governments, a directive which is an aberration and in contravention with the law on Local Government Fiscal Autonomy

“As a union, we are embarrassed, to say the least, by this surreptitious move to supplant extant law and place the running of the accounts of Osun State Local Governments in the hands of impostors who are not recognised by the law.

“For clarity purposes, the law expressly and unequivocally stipulates that authorised signatories to local government’s accounts are career officers, specifically the directors of finance and supplies and the directors of administration and general services, with the Local Government Chairmen and Heads of Local Government Administration to countersign for confirmation.”

Kankara warned that executing such a plan would deprive Osun residents of the dividends of democracy at the grassroots level.

He appealed to the president to intervene in the plans to release the funds to the unlawful persons, a move, he noted, would deny the people of Osun State the dividends of democracy at the grassroots.

“We are therefore inviting the attention of all well-meaning Nigerians particularly, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Tinubu to this affront on the law, barefaced attempts to rubbish his legacies, most especially the same battle you fought and won as a Governor of Lagos State some years ago.

“This intention and unscrupulous efforts of the saboteurs tend to deny the good people of Osun State the abundant benefits derivable from the Local Government Fiscal Autonomy, which has not only endeared the Tinubu Government to the masses but has also brought the dividends of good governance to the grassroots.”

Kankara urged the AGF and the CBN to reconsider their stands and act by the dictates of the constitution, which specified the signatories to LG accounts.

“We, therefore, appeal passionately to the Governor of CBN, Minister of Finance and Accountant General of Federation to as a matter of urgency work together and ensure the release of the withheld Osun State Local Government Allocation from January 2025 to date to the legitimate Local Government Officers as delivered by the Appeal Court Judgment on June 13, 2025, at Akure by Honorable Justice Peter Chudi Obiorah, JCA affirming the tenure of the democratically elected Peoples Democratic Party Local Government Chairmen in Osun State,” Kankara concluded.

Meanwhile, a civil society group in Osun State, ‘Coalition for Good Governance,’ has dismissed threats against the Federal Government over the current crises rocking local government areas in the state.

The CGG in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Thursday, referred to a 7-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government by the Transparency Centre Network, urging it to enforce the Court of Appeal judgment that ordered the removal of unauthorised occupants from Osun local council secretariats and to restore lawful governance at the grassroots.

At a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, TCN Executive Director, Ayuba Ahmed, also urged the Inspector-General of Police to comply immediately with the court’s ruling by expelling all unauthorised persons from the council secretariats, warning that failure to act within the ultimatum would prompt a nationwide protest to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

But, reacting in a statement signed by its convener, Adedokun Ismail, the CGG told TCN not to meddle in Osun affairs.

Adedokun said, “One wonders why their interpretation of a judgment has been flaunted becomes the position of the court and must be forced on the Federal Government.

“As citizens of Osun State who are also resident here and who have watched the different scenarios unfold since 2022, we make bold to say Governor Adeleke’s desperation must be curtailed.

“The judgment of the Court of Appeal of 10th February 2025 has not and remains unchallenged at the Supreme Court. The major reason to relist the appeal as sought by the All Progressives Congress is that the same court of Appeal had decided on the same issues raised by the appeal in appeal number CA/AK/270#2022 in its judgment of 10th February 2025, which reinstated the Chairmen and Councilors elected under the platform of APC during the October 15th 2022 Local Government Election.”

He also condemned TCN’s threat of protest, warning that CGG would respond with an even larger demonstration.

“Threatening to counter any protest to demand eviction of APC chairmen from council areas in Osun, the CGG added, “We condemn and in very strong term the attempt by the self-styled group to bully the Federal Government by their issuance of a 7-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to enforce their version of a legal debacle.

“We make bold to say that for every action there must be a reaction and we will meet their protest as threatened with a force in numbers bigger than theirs,” Adedokun said.

Source: Punch