Osun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have traded words over allegations of illegal diversion of local government funds and the interpretation of court judgments relating to council allocations.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo on Sunday, NULGE accused top federal government officials of abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law in the management of Osun’s local government allocations.
The union alleged that the Minister of Finance, the Accountant-General of the Federation, and the Attorney-General of the Federation wrongfully released statutory allocations of Osun’s 30 local government councils from March to September 2025 into accounts opened by court-sacked APC chairmen and councillors.
According to NULGE, the funds were deposited in United Bank for Africa, UBA, accounts despite subsisting court orders and the existence of legitimate council accounts managed by career officers as signatories.
“Paying local government allocations into privately opened and illegal bank accounts of politicians is unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented in the history of public administration in Nigeria,” the union said in a statement.
NULGE reminded the Federal Government that the Federal High Court had, on May 15, 2025, ordered all parties to maintain the status quo, a decision acknowledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The case, it added, is still pending before the Federal High Court and is scheduled for hearing on Monday, September 29, 2025.
The union insisted that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had effectively removed the APC chairmen and councillors from office, paving the way for the swearing-in of newly elected local government executives.
“The Attorney-General cannot assume the role of the Supreme Court by setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal. He is not above the law,” the statement further read.
NULGE also warned that undermining judicial authority could destabilise the state and accused unnamed political actors of plotting to create disorder to justify a possible state of emergency in Osun.
Despite the allegations, the union appealed to residents to remain calm and continue supporting Governor Ademola Adeleke’s peace and development agenda.
“Let all of us have faith in Almighty God and our courts. By His special grace, this cup shall soon pass,” the union said.
However, in a swift reaction, the Osun State chapter of the APC, described the NULGE statement as “a pack of lies and deliberate misrepresentation” intended to serve political interests.
In a press release signed by Kola Olabisi, the party’s Director of Media and Information, the APC accused the NULGE leadership, led by Comrade Kehinde Nathaniel Ogungbangbe, of acting as an interpreter of court judgments on behalf of the PDP.
“It is not the duty of NULGE to interpret any court judgment. The Court of Appeal judgment of 10 February 2025, which reinstated the APC local government chairmen and councillors, remains valid as there is no record that it has been appealed,” the APC stated.
The party denied allegations that council allocations were paid into the personal accounts of its members or officials, insisting that “the said federal allocations were paid directly into the local government councils’ accounts.”
The APC urged the union to stop misleading its members and desist from acting as a political arm of the PDP, advising security agencies to ensure vigilance and protect the peace-loving people of the state.
Reacting, the Osun PDP said it noted the APC’s admission that the funds had been released.
The ruling party in the state in a statement by its chairman, Sunday Bisi also challenged the APC to disclose the specific accounts into which the allocations were paid and reveal the signatories to those accounts.
According to the PDP, “statutory officers across the 30 local governments, including the state accountant general, the auditor-general for local governments, and the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, were unaware of any payments.”
The party alleged that “the situation suggested diversion of the funds and described the APC’s response as an admission of crime against the people of Osun State.”
The PDP also insisted that hurling insults at the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, could not erase the demand for accountability.
It urged the APC to “provide details of the transactions or risk being accused of staging what it described as “the greatest heist in the history of Nigeria.”
Bisi, who reaffirmed that under Governor Ademola Adeleke, transparency and accountability would remain guiding principles in managing public resources, stressed that no amount of blackmail would derail the administration.