We’ll Use Rule of Law to Get Withheld Osun LG Funds-Adeleke

Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has restated that he would continue to use the rule of law for the fruitful resolution of the current impasse over the February 22, 2025 Local Government election which his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won.

The Governor made the declaration in his response to the appeal by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and the Osun State Council of Obas, to the Federal Government and the Presidency to release the statutory allocations of the local councils.

A statement issued by the governor’s spokesman, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, said Adeleke commended the Osun State Council of Obas, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), public spirited individuals, and the various groups for their intervention and appeal to the Federal Government to release withheld Osun local government allocations.

Reacting to the NBA and the monarchs’ appeal to the Federal Government and the Presidency, Governor Adeleke praised the courage and passion of the various groups for Justice, truth and the upholding of the rule of law, affirming that “we are vindicated on all fronts on our rightful claim on the local government crisis.”

“I must particularly commend the NBA leadership for setting up a committee to investigate the Osun local government question and for demonstrating the rare courage to release the report which declared that there is no legal basis for the continuous withholding of Osun local government allocations,” Adeleke continued.

“I am particularly pleased that the NBA report clearly noted that it was a court of law that sacked the APC Chairmen from office in 2022 and not me as being peddled in some quarters. After their sack in 2022, the APC Chairmen filed for stay of execution which the court denied. I was not in any way responsible for their sack. The NBA finding has authenticated this reality.

“The election of February 22, 2025 to fill the vacuum created by the judicial sack of the APC Chairmen was conducted in compliance with another court order. Our administration has acted all along within the confines of the law and the constitution as affirmed by the NBA letter to the Attorney General of the Federation.

“The action of the NBA on the Osun local government matters has cleared all doubts anybody may be harboring as the rightful elected chairmen and councillors for Osun local governments are those elected on February 22nd, 2025 as again pronounced by the Court of Appeal judgement of June 13th, 2025. By law, today, PDP elected chairmen and councillors are the rightful occupants of the Osun local government leadership.

“There is therefore no legal or constitutional basis for the withholding of Osun LG allocations. I thank our royal fathers, Musibau Adetunbi SAN, Mike Ozekhome SAN, Jacob Okutepa SAN, Ademola Oyedokun Esq and other lovers of Justice, democracy and rule of law for supporting and standing for truth on the Osun LG fund crisis.

“I again call on the Federal Government to release Osun local government seized allocations in line with the law and demands of the constitution. We will continue to deploy due process and rule of law in our struggle for Justice on this matter.”

Mallam Rasheed recalled, in the press statement, that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had advised the Federal Government to immediately release statutory allocations due to local government councils in Osun State, describing the continued withholding of the funds as unconstitutional, unlawful, and a dangerous affront to the rule of law.

In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef  Fagbemi, the NBA leadership led by its President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, and General Secretary, Mobolaji Ojibara, demanded that allocations from the Federation Account to Osun’s 30 local governments be released to the duly elected council chairmen and councillors who emerged from the February 22, 2025 local government elections.

The association noted that, despite multiple judicial pronouncements clarifying the disputes surrounding the legality of local government leadership in the state, allocations due to councils have been withheld since February 2025, allegedly on the instruction of federal authorities.

“The withholding of allocations meant for local governments in Osun State amounts to a violation of the Constitution, a disregard for the rule of law and an affront on clear pronouncements of the courts,” the NBA said in the letter.

Citing the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Attorney General of Lagos State v. Attorney General of the Federation (2004), the association stressed that the President lacks the power to suspend or withhold funds meant for local councils, regardless of political disputes. “It cannot but constitute clear impunity were it to be true that funds meant for the LGAs are currently being seized or withheld,” the NBA stated.

The association warned that such actions set “a dangerous precedent, weaken public confidence in democratic institutions, and embolden lawlessness at all levels.”

“The local government crisis in Osun State dates back to the controversial council elections held on October 15, 2022 under the administration of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The polls were nullified by the Federal High Court in two separate judgments delivered on November 25 and November 30, 2022.

“Following those rulings, the state government appointed caretaker committees to run the councils. But appeals filed by the APC created a prolonged legal battle that culminated in mixed judgments from the Court of Appeal between January and June 2025.

“In the meantime, the Osun State High Court, sitting in Ilesa, ordered fresh elections, which were conducted on February 22, 2025. All candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won and were subsequently sworn in as council chairmen and councillors.

The NBA noted that the appellate court in its June 13, 2025 decision expressly recognized the validity of the February polls, ruling that any disputes over the ousted APC officials had been overtaken by the fresh elections.

Despite these developments, the NBA revealed that the Federal Government, acting on a March 26, 2025 advisory from the Attorney General of the Federation, continued to recognize the sacked APC council officials and allegedly directed the Minister of Finance to withhold allocations until their tenure would have expired in October 2025.

According to the NBA, this position has created a “plausible but officially unauthenticated speculation” that the Ministry of Finance has frozen further disbursements to Osun councils since February, thereby crippling governance at the grassroots level.

The lawyers’ body maintained that the only valid and legitimate council officials in Osun are those elected under the PDP in February 2025 and insisted that they are “legitimately entitled to the release of the funds meant for their respective councils.”

To resolve the crisis, the NBA said it has directed its National Litigation Committee and the Section on Public Interest and Development Law to immediately engage key stakeholders, including the AGF, Minister of Finance, Governor of Osun State, Attorney General of Osun State, National Assembly leadership, and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

The association added that, should dialogue fail, it would not hesitate to institute a public interest suit against the Federal Government “to halt the continuing desecration, wanton violation, utter disregard and total disrespect of the Constitution and the courts.”

Observers note that the Osun impasse underscores the recurring friction between state and federal authorities over local government autonomy in Nigeria, a matter that has generated years of litigation and constitutional debate.