Osun APC, PDP Play The Blame Game Over Withheld LG Allocations As Govt Commends Traditional Rulers For Their Role
Osun State APC and the state PDP brought the issue of the withheld local government allocations to the fore during the weekend as they played the blame game while the latter has warned that there will be negative political consequences.
Governor Ademola Adeleke’s spokesperson, Malam Olawale Rasheed warned that citizens and residents of Osun State will react to the decision to withhold the local government allocations by not voting for the APC in the next election cycle.
The spokesperson in a statement he issued in Osogbo and made available to Team@orientactualmags.com asserted that there is no valid reason to withhold the state local government allocations while blaming the state APC for the confusing situation.
The statement asserted that the June 13 ruling of the Court of Appeal upheld the removal of council chairmen and councilors that were produced in 2022, and expressly validated the February 22, 2025 local government elections and the elected chairmen and councilors.
‘The public is further in the know that the APC Chairmen and councilors were sacked by two courts as early as 2022, and their removal was never reversed even by the misinterpreted court of appeal judgment of February 10, 2025. We challenge the Osun APC to point out the exact portion of the February 10, 2022, judgment of the Appeal Court where an order for reinstatement was made.
Prior to the Court of Appeal ruling of June 13th, the APC made spirited efforts to breach the law by pushing for the payment of local governments allocation to the sacked APC chairmen but the illegality move met brick wall on all fronts.
The Court judgment which was already widely published and submitted officially to the Presidency, relevant ministries and other stakeholders actually recapped the genesis, timeline and current position of the law with respect to Osun local government leadership and concluded that APC chairmen and councilors produced by the flawed October 15, 2022, local governments election remain sacked and confirmed the products of the February 22, 2025 local government elections as the authentic leaders of the local governments.
The Osun State APC can therefore not hide under fake news any longer as the facts can no longer be twisted. As at today, there is no legal or political basis for withholding Osun State local government allocations.
As rightly noted by the Commissioner for Information earlier today, we are aware that the Federal Government and indeed the Presidency have all the facts of the situation concerning Osun Local Governments and the reality remains that the court judgment sacking the APC Yes/No election Chairmen and Councilors remains valid and still subsists as it was recently validated by the 13th June judgment of the Court of Appeal.
As a matter of fact, there should not be any further controversy after the appeal court judgment recognizing the elected chairmen and councilors who are products of the 22nd February, 2025, Local Government elections.
We further submit that there is no judicial judgment halting the release of the withheld fund as the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy has never been implemented and Osun State cannot be singled out from the 36 states even if the apex judgment has come into effect.
We clarify further that even if the Supreme Court judgment is applied to Osun State, the local government accounts for such a payment must still be opened with the duly elected chairmen of 22nd February, 2025, and accredited local officials as signatories in line with the law. Hence, there is still no justification to withhold the state’s local government allocations.
As a government, we are aware that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu only got to know about the funds seizure from the Nigerian Tribune front page during the Eid (Ileya) holidays, which means that the Attorney General of the Federation instructed the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the funds without a presidential approval. We, therefore, appeal to Mr. President to intervene and order the release of Osun local government allocations.
Osun APC should therefore retrace her anti-people posture and ensure immediate release of Osun State allocations to the rightly elected leadership of the local governments who were elected on February 22, 2025.
We must put APC on notice that Osun State people will harshly punish them through the ballot for the willful inhuman punishment’ the statement added.
Osun state government in a statement issued by Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi has also urged the Federal Government to release the local government allocations citing recent Court of Appeal judgment.
The State Government also noted that it welcomes and supports the intervention of Traditional rulers and other thought leaders to ensure immediate release of the funds in question in order to stop the economic hardship concomitant with the action.
The state government asserted that there is no legal or political basis for the decision to withhold the allocations, asserting that in the eyes of the law, today, the elected chairmen and councilors that were produced by the local Government elections of 22nd February, 2025, are the recognized local government officials in the state.
‘We are aware that the Federal Government and indeed the Presidency have all the facts of the situation concerning Osun Local Governments and the reality remains that the court judgment sacking the APC Yes/No election Chairmen and Councilors remains valid and was recently validated by the 13th June judgment of the Court of Appeal. As a matter of fact, there should not be any further controversy after the appeal court judgment recognizing the elected chairmen and councilors who are products of the 22nd February, 2025, Local Government elections.
We further submit that there is no judicial judgment halting the release of the withheld fund as the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy has never been implemented and Osun State cannot be singled out from the 36 states even if the apex judgment has come into effect.
We clarify further that even if the Supreme Court judgment is applied to Osun state, the local government accounts for such a payment must still be opened with the duly elected officials of the 22nd February, 2025, and accredited local officials as signatories in line with the law passed by the State Assembly as provided by Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Hence, there is still no ground to withhold the state’s local government allocations.
As a government, we are aware that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu only got to know about the funds seizure from the Nigerian Tribune front page during the Eid (Ileya) holidays which, means that the Attorney General of the Federation instructed the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the funds without presidential approval. We, therefore, appeal to Mr. President to intervene and order the release of Osun local government allocations.
We further support the plans by the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers to meet with Mr. President on this matter. The local government crisis is beyond politics as it has to do with a tier of government that directly affects the lives of our people. The intervention of our apolitical monarchs is therefore a welcome development.
As a government, we learnt that those who masterminded the fund seizure are targeting Governor Ademola Adeleke but the real victims are the people of Osun State who are well at home with good governance delivery across the state. The attack on the state governor has failed and we urge those behind the illegal move to abandon the anti-people path and release Osun local government funds without further delay’ the statement added.
Osun State APC has however submitted that the press statements issued by the state government and the PDP in respect of the withheld allocations contained misinformation and half-truths while noting that the allocations were never withheld.
‘We would like to painstakingly explain to the public that such an insinuation is far from the truth of the matter as no agency of the Federal Government is withholding the local government allocations.
What is transpiring is that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is acting in line with the Court of Appeal judgment of the 10th of February, 2025, which reinstated the APC local government council chairmen and councillors.
It is known to all and sundry that the defeated parties in the case failed to appeal the 10th of February, 2025, judgment because they know that they lack sufficient grounds to do so.
The CBN, whose hallmark is the rules of law, has been processing the payment of the allocations to the rightful local government council chairmen and councilors and the process is close to conclusion and will be activated in due course’ spokesman for the party, Chief Kola Olabisi submitted in a statement made available to Team@orientactualmags.com on Sunday.
APC also accused the state Commissioner for Information of misinforming members of the public while also condemning the idea of dragging the traditional rulers into the matter.
The party also alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke is behind the strike embarked on by members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state which has entered its 6th month.
‘It is this same Governor Ademola who has the history of victimizing the monarchs in the state ever before the issue of the local government allocations cropped up who is now falsely putting up the role of the defender of the traditional rulers in the state.
The fact of the development is that Senator Adeleke is not a serious governor as a serious governor would not be away from his state for the planning of his nephew’s wedding ceremony for four weeks running.
If there’s anyone that grounds the wheel of administration in the state, it is Governor Adeleke who sacked 1,500 teachers, hundreds of health workers and 20,000 O’YES Corp members employed by his immediate predecessor without making a deserving replacement for them.
In addition, the same Governor Ademola Adeleke through his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice also asked, by a pending suit, the Federal High Court to direct the CBN to refuse to pay the Chairmen and Councilors the funds and all these facts are in the public domain.
It is expected that the state commissioner for information would have a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding the local government administration in Nigeria with special reference to the financial autonomy granted to the local governments in Nigeria through the Supreme Court ruling of July 2024.
Some of the monarchs in the state are quite aware that it is the failure of Governor Adeleke to respect the rules of law that is responsible for whatever hardship that any segment of society may be encountering which is reprehensible.
It is uncharitable for the handlers of Governor Adeleke to misinform members of the public on a matter that has been ruled on by the Court of Appeal which the PDP and Governor Adeleke had refused to appeal.
It should interest members of the public to find out why Governor Adeleke and the PDP hurriedly made a retreat and shameful withdrew the suit filed at the Supreme Court in respect of the local government allocations.
It is in the public domain that the Governor Adeleke-led administration is owing the local government councils in the state a total sum of N84 billion, being the amount of the allocations it illegally withdrew contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court which gives an unfettered autonomy to local governments in the country’ the statement added-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079, 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
