By John Dike, Osogbo
Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of deliberately distorting facts surrounding local government administration and statutory allocations in the state.
At a press conference on Wednesday at the APC State Secretariat along Osogbo–Gongan Road, Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, the party’s Chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, said the governor’s recent statewide broadcast was “built on misrepresentation, selective narration of facts, and a calculated attempt to deflect responsibility.”
In a broadcast titled “The Illegal Occupation of Local Government Secretariats and the Defence of Democratic Order in Osun State,” the Governor had alleged that reinstated APC chairmen and councillors were illegally occupying council secretariats, and accused the Federal Government of withholding local government allocations.
But Lawal dismissed the claims as false and misleading, insisting that the return of APC local government officials followed valid judicial pronouncements.
He said, “It is patently untrue to describe the reinstated APC chairmen and councillors as illegal occupants of local government secretariats.
“Their reinstatement followed the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on February 10, 2025, which nullified the basis of their earlier removal. That judgment remains valid, binding, and unappealed.”
The APC chairman further accused Adeleke of omitting critical facts, noting that the crisis in the local government system began when the governor, upon assumption of office, dissolved elected APC councils and replaced them with caretaker committees.
“That executive action, taken without exhausting judicial processes, laid the foundation for the instability now being unfairly blamed on others,” he said.
On allegations of tenure elongation, Lawal said that the matter currently before the Federal High Court in Osogbo concerns the interpretation of the constitutionally guaranteed three-year tenure of elected council officials and the legality of conducting new elections while that tenure subsists.
“This is a legitimate judicial inquiry, not an attempt at tenure extension,” he stressed.
The APC also rejected claims that the Federal Government was withholding local government allocations, describing them as deceptive.
According to Lawal, it is the Osun State Government and its allies who have instituted multiple lawsuits, including cases against commercial banks, aimed at preventing the release of funds to the reinstated APC councils.
“These litigations—not any action of the Federal Government—are the real reasons the funds have not been released,” he said.
Lawal cited a recent Supreme Court judgment which affirmed the autonomy of local governments, declaring them distinct legal entities with the power to sue and be sued, while holding that state governments lack the locus standi to litigate on their behalf regarding council funds.
“In spite of this clear constitutional position, Governor Adeleke continues to act as though local governments are appendages of the state executive,” he said, describing the governor’s posture as constitutional overreach.
The APC chairman also accused the governor of scapegoating former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, for what he described as the shortcomings of the current administration.
He further recalled the killing of Hon. Remi Abass, the reinstated chairman of Irewole Local Government, warning against inflammatory rhetoric capable of escalating political tensions.
Calling for restraint, Lawal urged Governor Adeleke to withdraw all pending litigations hindering the release of local government allocations and allow funds already domiciled in commercial banks to reach the councils.
