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Osun presses FG to release LG funds after appeal court victory
The Osun State Government has intensified its call for the Federal Government to release withheld local government allocations, citing a recent Court of Appeal judgment that validates the leadership of elected local government officials.
The state argues that the continued seizure of these funds is causing significant hardship for grassroots communities.
In a statement issued by Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the Hon. Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, the Osun State Government emphasized that there is no legal or political justification for withholding the funds.
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“There is no legal or political basis for withholding the allocations, asserting that before the law today, the elected chairmen and councilors that were produced based on the local Government elections of 22nd February, 2025, are the official leadership of the local governments in Osun state,” Alimi declared.
The statement referenced the Court of Appeal’s June 13 judgment, which upheld the legitimacy of the elected chairmen and councilors from the February 22, 2025, local government elections, dismissing the previous “Yes/No” election process.
Alimi stressed, “The reality remains that the court judgement sacking the APC Yes/No election Chairmen and Councilors remains valid and was recently validated by the 13th June judgement of the Court of Appeal.”
The government also clarified that even if the Supreme Court’s ruling on local government autonomy were enforced, the funds should still be channeled through the duly elected officials of February 22, 2025, as recognized by law. “There is still no ground to withhold the state’s local government allocations,” Alimi asserted.
Expressing concern over the unauthorized nature of the fund seizure, Alimi noted, “As a government, we are aware that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu only got to know about the funds seizure from the Nigerian Tribune front page during the Eid (Ileya) holidays, which means that the Attorney-General of the Federation instructed the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the funds without presidential approval.” The state has appealed to President Tinubu to intervene and order the immediate release of the funds.
The Osun State Government welcomed the intervention of the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers, who plan to meet with President Tinubu to resolve the issue. “The intervention of our apolitical monarchs is therefore a welcome development,” Alimi said, emphasizing that the crisis transcends politics and directly impacts the lives of Osun residents.
Accusing detractors of targeting Governor Ademola Adeleke, Alimi stated, “Those who masterminded the fund seizure were targeting Governor Ademola Adeleke, but the real victims are the people of Osun state who are well at home with good governance delivery across Osun state.” He urged those responsible for the seizure to “abandon the anti-people path” and release the funds without delay.
The Osun State Government remains firm in its stance, calling for immediate action to alleviate the hardship faced by local communities due to the withholding of their rightful allocations.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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