Nigeria: There’s No Legal Basis For Seizure of Osun Local Government Allocation – Adeleke Tells APC-Led FG

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has called on President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Government to immediately release withheld local government allocations belonging to the state, insisting that there is no legal justification for their continued seizure.

In a statement on Tuesday, Adeleke commended the Osun Council of Obas, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and other stakeholders for standing firm in defence of justice and the rule of law on the issue.

The governor referenced the NBA’s recent report and multiple court judgments, which, according to him, have clarified the controversy surrounding local government administration in Osun.

He emphasised three key points: That the All Progressives Congress (APC) local government chairmen were removed by court rulings in 2022, not by his administration. That the February 22, 2025, local government elections conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) were valid and lawful. That the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-elected chairmen and councillors are the rightful authorities at the grassroots level.

There is no legal basis for the continued seizure of Osun State local government funds. I call on the Federal Government and the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to release our local government allocations without delay,” Adeleke said in a post on X.

It will be recalled that the Nigerian Federal Government under Tinubu froze local government (LG) allocations to Osun State for months, starting in March 2025. 

This freeze is tied to a bitter power struggle between the PDP-led state government and the APC-backed local government chairmen.

Reports stated that the Federal Government, through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, halted the statutory disbursement of LG funds to Osun shortly after the PDP-led government of Governor Adeleke conducted local government elections earlier this year, elections that the APC rejected.

The impasse has left Osun’s LGs without federal funding for March, April, May, and till now, raising concerns over service delivery and local governance in the state.

Ironically, the move mirrors a controversial policy that Tinubu once fought against as Lagos State governor during the Obasanjo administration.

In the early 2000s, Tinubu took the federal government to court after then-President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld allocations to Lagos’ newly created local council development areas. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in Tinubu’s favour, affirming states’ constitutional rights over LG administration.

Tinubu’s regime is accused of using state instruments to impose APC-aligned chairmen on Osun State’s local governments by starving the PDP-led administration of critical funds.

The Tinubu-led regime is also facing accusations of deploying federal institutions to favour his party in a state governed by the opposition, an act some say undermines the principles he once championed.

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