A fresh political storm is brewing in Osun State as the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress clashed on Sunday over the release of six months’ local government allocations by the Federal Government.
The opposition APC confirmed that the March–August 2025 allocations, earlier withheld, had been released. However, the party dismissed insinuations that the funds were paid into private accounts of its council chairmen, insisting that the monies were lodged directly into the local government accounts.
But the ruling PDP rejected the claim, demanding that the APC disclose the exact accounts into which the allocations were paid and identify the signatories. The party argued that statutory officers, including the state Accountant General, the Auditor-General for Local Governments, and the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, had no knowledge of the payment.
The development follows a protest by the National Union of Local Government Employees, which alleged that the Federal Government violated existing court orders by releasing the funds into accounts operated by APC chairmen sacked by the courts.
NULGE Chairman, Dr Nathaniel Ogungbangbe, described the development as “scary and unprecedented,” accusing senior government officials—including the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN)—of abuse of office. He warned that local government workers would not return to duty until the matter was resolved.
“The Attorney-General cannot assume the role of the Supreme Court by setting aside subsisting judgments,” Ogungbangbe said, alleging that the APC’s ultimate aim was to destabilise the state.
But the APC dismissed the allegations as “cheap blackmail.” Its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said the Court of Appeal’s ruling of February 10, 2025, had reinstated the APC chairmen, stressing that NULGE had no authority to interpret court judgments.
“The allocations were not paid into anyone’s private account but into the councils’ accounts,” Olabisi maintained, accusing the PDP and labour leaders of pursuing selfish political interests.
In a swift rebuttal, PDP Chairman, Sunday Bisi, insisted that the people of Osun deserved answers. He described the payment as “a crime against the people,” demanding full disclosure of the accounts and warning that anything short of transparency would amount to “the greatest heist in Nigeria’s history.”
“The questions are simple: into which accounts were the allocations paid, and who are the signatories? The APC must come clean,” Bisi said.
