Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke
Records from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) have shown that an eestimated N63 billion of the six months’ seized allocations from the Federation Account may have been disbursed to the ‘sacked’ All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen of the 30 local government areas of Osun State,
The records which were obtained by Daily Trust from the website of the OAGF, revealed that a total sum of N46.98 billion was disbursed to the councils covering March to June 2025. The funds were released together with July and August allocations whose details have not been published on the website.
The councils might have received at least N16 billion for July and August, going by previous allocations they got during the same period in the post-subsidy era. For July and August 2023, the local governments received N7.5 billion respectively. They got N9.8 billion for July 2024 and N9.7 billion for August 2024.
Based on the records from the OAGF, cumulative funds received by each council between March and June 2025 were: Atakumosa East LG, N1.42 billion; Atakumosa West, N1.38 billion; Ayedade, N1.7 billion; Aiyedire, N1.47 billion; Boluwaduro, N1.48 billion; Boripe, N1.64 billion; Ede North, N1.41bn; Ede South, N1.42bn; Egbedore, N1.41bn; Ejigbo, N1.61 billion; Ife Central, N1.28 billion; Ife East, N1.88 billion; Ife North, N1.76 billion; Ife South, N1.61 billion; Ifedayo, N1.26 billion; Ifelodun, N1.54 billion and Ila, N1.34 billion.
Others were Ilesha East, N1.50 billion; Ilesha West, N154 billion; Irepodun, N1.56 billion; Irewole, N1.67 billion; Isokan, N152 billion; Iwo, N1.85 billion; Obokun, N1.56 billion; Odo-Otin, N1.82 billion; Ola-Oluwa, N1.41 billion; Olorunda, N1.65 billion; Oriade, N1.69 billion; Orolu, N1.51 billion and Osogbo, N1.67 billion.
The state chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees had, on Sunday, accused the federal government of disbursing the withheld six months’ allocation from March 2025 to August 2025 into accounts opened by the APC-led chairmen and councilors amidst pending court cases on the issue.
But the Osun APC, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said the funds were disbursed into the accounts of the local government councils, not private accounts.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Tuesday about the insinuations that the tenure of APC council chairmen would have ended this month even if they had not been sacked, the spokesperson for the APC in Osun State, Kola Olabisi, said: “It is not a problem because when we get to the river, we will devise a means of crossing the bridge. It is not about extension; it is about determination. Do the reinstated chairmen and councilors have a constitutional right to spend their three years? It is for the court to determine if they have that right under the prevailing law of the country to spend three years.
“And if Governor Adeleke (of PDP) agrees that the tenure will elapse in October, it means he has shot himself in the leg. It means he has agreed that there was indeed an election (in October 2022), that the February 10 Appeal Court judgement actually reinstated our chairmen and that the election his party held was an effort in futility because no election can be held when another set of people are still occupying the office,” he said.
Early in September, “the reinstated” council executives filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, against the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector-General of Police, the Osun State Governor, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, and the State House of Assembly, seeking an extension of their tenure beyond its scheduled expiration in October 2025 to February 19, 2028.
They argued that under the Constitution and the Osun State laws, their tenure should commence only from the date they were inaugurated as elected council members in February 2025; not from October 2022 when they were first elected but denied office.
The APC spokesman told this paper on Tuesday that the allocations were released to the councils, but said he did not know the exact amounts, contradicting the Monday’s denials by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“I don’t know the actual amount that has been released, but my understanding is that a substantial part of the money has been released to the local governments’ accounts, and not the council chairmen’s accounts,” Olabisi said.
An Oyo State High Court had, on Friday, restrained the UBA from paying out any money from accounts opened in the names of the 30 local governments in Osun State by the APC council chairmen and councillors. The State Assembly also cautioned commercial banks in the state on Monday against granting unauthorised access to allocations belonging to local government areas.
In a statement yesterday, the state chairman of the PDP, Sunday Bisi, asked the Inspector-General of Police to probe an alleged attempt by the ex-APC council chairmen in the state to pay out almost N12.75 billion, out of the six months allocations paid into the local governments’ UBA accounts, to a senior lawyer.
Bisi alleged that the chairmen had directed the bank to pay the lawyer the amount as the legal fees incurred on the local government litigations.
“The APC has descended to the lowest level with outright impunity and deliberate trampling on the law and the constitution. Despite court order and subsisting case before the Supreme Court, the APC is violating all known laws and public finance rules and regulations.
“I call on the state government to open criminal investigations against the illegal APC chairmen. All perpetrators of this illegality must be brought to book,” Bisi stated.
APC denies alleged attempt to pay out N12.75bn
Reacting, the spokesman for the APC in the state, Olabisi, told Daily Trust on the telephone yesterday that the allegation was unfounded
“It remains in the realm of conjecture. So, it is nothing to be relied upon. It is baseless and unfounded and it should be discountenanced.
“There is no element of truth in it. It is just a way of weaving lies together to portray our party in a bad light,” he said.
Background to the LG leadership crisis
The Federal High Court in Osogbo had, on November 25, 2022, nullified the October 15, 2022 local government election conducted after the then Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had lost his re-election bid. The election produced APC chairmen and councillors. The Court of Appeal in Akure later overturned the Federal High Court’s ruling which sacked the executives.
The state government had argued that the Appeal Court’s judgment did not amount to the APC council chairmen’s reinstatement. The government conducted a fresh local election on February 22, 2025 in which only PDP candidates contested and were declared winners.
These PDP officials were subsequently sworn in but instructed by the governor not to assume physical control of the council secretariats to avoid conflict.
Relying on the appellate court’s verdict, the APC chairmen and councillors returned to their council secretariats in February 24. The situation led to a clash that claimed the life of an APC chieftain and former chairman of Irewole Local Government Area of the state, Remi Abbas, and four others. Governor Ademola Adeleke shut down all local government council secretariats in the state to prevent further breakdown of law and order.
The APC later asked the federal government to withhold the council allocations, arguing that the elections were unlawful. In May, the state government took the Attorney-General of the Federation to the Supreme Court over the seizure of the LG allocations. The matter has not been determined by the apex court.
Daily Trust
