Osun state government has again pleaded with the Federal Government to release the state local governments allocations in recognition and compliance with the recent Court of Appeal judgement on the state’s Local Government leadership question.
The state commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi who mad the plea in a statement in Osogbo, however, charged traditional rulers and other leaders of thought to secure the immediate release of the fund to stop current hardship the fund seizure is inflicting on grassroots communities across the state.
According to him, “there is no legal or political basis for withholding the allocations, Before the law today, the elected chairmen and councilors that were produced based on the local Government elections of 22nd February,2025, are the official leadership of the local governments in Osun 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 judgement sacking the APC Yes/No election Chairmen and Councilors remains valid and was recently validated by the 13th June judgement of the Court of Appeal.”
“As a matter of fact, there should not be any further controversy after the appeal court judgement recognizing the elected chairmen and councillors who are products of the 22nd February, 2025, Local Government elections.”
“We further submit that there is no judicial judgement halting the release of the withheld fund as the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy has never been implemented and Osun State alone cannot be singled out from the 36 states even if the apex judgement 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 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 plan by the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers to meet Mr. President on this matter. The local government crisis is beyond politics as it has to do with governmental levels that directly affect the lives of our people. The intervention of our apolitical monarchs is therefore a welcome development”, the statement noted.
“As a government, we learnt that those who masterminded the fund seizure were targeting Governor Ademola Adeleke but the real victims are the people of Osun state who are well at home with good governance delivery across Osun 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 Commissioner concluded.
Meanwhile,the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC),in a. Separate statement by its spokesperson,Chief Adekola Olabisi said, “Contrary to the misinformation contained in the press statement of the state commissioner for information that, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is withholding the allocations of the local government councils, we would like to painstakingly explain to the public that such insinuation is far from the truth of the matter as no any 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 knew they lacked 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 councillors and the process that is close to conclusion in the due course.”
“The misinformation of the people by the Osun State commissioner for information was obviously to misinform the members of the public that the allocations should have been paid to Governor Ademola Adeleke who is the sponsor of the needless lingering six-month-old strike embarked upon by the glaringly partisan state chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE) in unfair and unethical solidarity with the state government, he submitted.