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.
