Understanding the Osun LG debacle

Adeolu Adeyemo, in Osogbo, writes on the unending crisis over the control of local government funds in Osun State.

THERE seems to be no end in sight to the crisis rocking local government administration in Osun State, as the councils have remained grounded for more than one year. The administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke has been engaged in a tug of war with the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the control of the secretariats of the 30 local governments in the state. There are two sets of chairmen and councillors on the part of the Peoples Democratic Party, now Accord Party-led government in Osun, and the APC, insisting on the right to run the affairs of the councils. The chairmen and councillors of the APC were elected in the October 15, 2022, election, while those of the PDP were elected during the February 22, 2025, poll.

The crisis, which started with a Court of Appeal judgement that the APC council officials claimed returned them to the councils after they were sacked by a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo in November 2022, culminated in the death of Mr. Remi Abass, a former chairman of Irewole Local Government Area, and the six other people on February 17, 2025. Justice Nathaniel Emmanuel-Ayoola, who sacked the chairmen, declared the election that brought them into office was null and void because the conduct of the election contravened Sections 29 & 32 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Following the removal of the APC council officials, the state government under Governor Ademola Adeleke put in place caretaker council officials across the local governments. However, the Supreme Court judgment of July 11, 2024, which granted financial autonomy to local governments, led to the dissolution of the caretaker chairmen by the state government, while a new election was conducted on February 22, 2025, by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, with the candidates of the PDP winning all the positions. But the sacked APC council officials rejected the election that brought in the PDP chairmen, as they insisted that they had been returned to the councils by the ruling of the Court of Appeal. They also vowed to remain in the councils for their constitutional three-year tenure. The development led to the state having two sets of local government officials, with both parties laying claim to being the authentic chairmen.

To avoid a further breakdown of law and order, Governor Adeleke, after swearing in the elected PDP council officials, directed them to stay away from local government council secretariats. Since then, the PDP chairmen and councillors have not entered the councils, while those elected under the APC on October 15, 2022, have occupied the secretariats. Local government workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have also continued to stay off work for 11 months now, something that has left the councils paralysed. Also, the allocation due to the council areas from the Federal Government has not been released since February, 2025. The allocation, which is now over N130 billion, was initially seized by the Federal Government due to the crisis, but was later allegedly released to the APC council officials through the accounts they opened with one of the commercial banks.

It would be recalled that after the alleged release of the fund, the state government went to court to seek an order restraining the bank from disbursing the funds to the APC council officials, an order which was granted by an Oyo State High Court. The state also dragged the said bank before a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Osogbo after reports that the bank had allegedly released the funds to the APC local government chairmen. The court, on January 30, issued an arrest warrant against the bank and four of its senior officials over the alleged illegal operation and maintenance of bank accounts in the name of the 30 local government councils in the state.

Also on January 10, the court presided over by Magistrate Adekanmi Adeyeba restrained the bank from conducting any business transactions with individuals parading themselves as chairmen of local government councils in the state, pending the conclusion of an ongoing criminal trial involving senior officials of the bank. Magistrate Adeyeba held that, in the interest of the public and to prevent further abuse of public funds, the bank must refrain from recognising any individual or group of individuals for the purpose of opening, maintaining, or operating bank accounts on behalf of any local government council in Osun State.

Tenure Elongation

Meanwhile, the chairmen and councillors elected in the October 15, 2022, election have approached the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, to demand tenure elongation. The claimants, Onibonokuta Saheed and seven others, dragged the Attorney General of the Federation and six others before the court on behalf of the chairmen and councillors produced in the October 15, 2022, poll in suit No. FHC/OS/CS/147/2025.

The APC chairmen asked the court to determine whether they are entitled to a three-year tenure commencing from February 2025. However, Governor Adeleke, on January 26, in a statewide broadcast, condemned the continued occupation of local government secretariats by the APC chairmen and councillors, describing their self-awarded tenure extension as illegal and unconstitutional. Adeleke stated that the tenure of elected officials in Nigeria cannot be extended beyond the legally mandated period, citing Supreme Court precedents. “It is a settled matter of law that the tenure of elected officials in Nigeria cannot be extended for a single day after the expiration of their tenure,” he said.

Adeleke noted that court filings, including documents filed at the Supreme Court, show that the APC chairmen and councillors, through their lawyers and the Attorney-General of the Federation, admitted that they had no claim to office beyond October 22, 2025. “Assuming, without conceding, that the APC chairmen and councillors had any tenure, the tenure expired on October 22, 2025.

“I sometimes wonder if we are really under a democratic system of government. In Osun State, it seems that the APC chairmen and councillors, whose so-called tenure has expired, are above the law,” he said. But the leader of the APC elected chairmen Mr Abiodun Idowu, in his response, said that Governor Adeleke’s controversial executive order tampering with the freely given tenure of council officials is the root cause of the present crisis. He urged the governor to desist from media blackmail and allow the court to determine the tenure issue before a Federal High Court in the state. “It is surprising that Governor Ademola Adeleke is now on the side that our tenure has expired, having argued that we do not have any tenure in the first place. For us, we have a tenure in place owing to the Court of Appeal judgement of February 10, 2025.

“We are now before a Federal High Court in the State to determine whether the governor has the right to tamper with that tenure with his Executive Order of November 2022. The police were aware that we have been the legally backed council officials since last year and do not need any illegal instruction from anyone, but need to stay on the side of the law.

“We are in the council secretariats legally, as we have approached the court to determine the issue of our tenure,” Idowu added.