A fresh wave of political tension has erupted in Osun State following allegations that the Federal Government, under President Bola Tinubu, has frozen statutory allocations to local governments in the state. The move is reportedly linked to the ongoing dispute between elected chairpersons from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their counterparts from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to reports, the Federal Government is said to be backing APC-aligned local government chairmen, despite a February 2025 Court of Appeal ruling that nullified the October 2022 local government elections conducted under the previous APC-led administration. The Osun State House of Assembly has since recognized PDP-elected officials as the legitimate custodians of grassroots mandates.
In a dramatic twist, there are claims that efforts are underway to open parallel accounts for APC-favoured chairpersons, a move the Osun Assembly has condemned as unconstitutional and a potential diversion of public funds. The Assembly has threatened legal action against the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria should any allocations be disbursed to unauthorized accounts.
Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, emphasized that only duly appointed career officers and recognized chairpersons are authorized to manage local government accounts. “Any attempt to substitute these officers with unauthorized persons is not only unlawful but constitutes an attempt to divert public funds,” he stated.
Meanwhile, federal lawmaker Hon. Wole Oke has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of politicizing the crisis and urged him to comply with the appellate court’s ruling, which he claims reinstated APC officials—a claim the PDP has strongly refuted.