By Abiola Olawale
The Osun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has condemned the Federal Government for allegedly paying billions of naira in statutory allocations into bank accounts controlled by All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors.
The move was described by union leaders as a “bizarre, scary, and unprecedented abuse of power.”
The New Diplomat reports that the controversy, rooted in a protracted legal and political standoff over Osun’s 30 local government areas (LGAs), erupted anew when NULGE President Dr. Nathaniel Ogungbangbe held a press conference in Osogbo.
Ogungbangbe alleged that the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the Accountant-General of the Federation; and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, authorized the release of funds covering March to September 2025 into “illegally opened” United Bank for Africa (UBA) accounts operated by the APC officials.
These accounts, he claimed, were set up without legal backing, bypassing established joint state-LG accounts used by other states.
According to him: “Today, we have it on good authority that these three principal officers of the federal government have released the Osun State Local Government Councils’ allocations for March, 2025 to September, 2025 to the illegal bank accounts opened by court-sacked APC chairmen and councilors.
“We find this development very scary and alarming. 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.
“These funds were paid to the accounts opened by these APC men with United Bank for Africa even though due process was not followed in opening the said accounts.
“We strongly believe that if these three principal officers of the federal government and the entire federal government which they represent do not have respect for our constitution, which they have sworn to uphold, they ought to have respect for our judicial authorities more particularly the Supreme Court of Nigeria before whom the suit in respect of these funds is currently pending.
“It is on record that the Federal High Court of Nigeria on 15th May, 2025, ordered parties to maintain the status quo, an order which has been acknowledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria as hindering them from making payment.
“It is public knowledge that the Federal High Court is to further sit on this matter on 29/09/2025. It is worrisome that these officers and the federal authorities, which they represent, do not have respect for the authority of the courts.
“We wish to remind them that a country that does not have respect for its own judicial authorities is digging its own grave.”
The New Diplomat reports that the ongoing crisis goes back to the October 2022 local government elections conducted under the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, an APC stalwart now serving as Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
The polls, boycotted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were won by all 30 council positions for APC candidates.
However, shortly after PDP’s Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State assumed office in November 2022, a Federal High Court in Osogbo nullified the elections in two separate suits filed by the PDP and the Action Peoples Party (APP).
The officials were consequently sacked, and their tenure was deemed invalid due to procedural flaws under the Electoral Act 2022.
Adeleke then proceeded with fresh elections on February 22, 2025, where PDP candidates won all seats unopposed after the APC boycotted, citing no vacancies.
The new PDP chairmen were sworn in but barred from assuming physical control of secretariats to avert violence.
The New Diplomat’s checks revealed that the council’s secretariats have remained shut for over seven months.
The standoff intensified when federal allocations to Osun’s councils, reportedly totaling over ₦46.9 billion since February, were allegedly frozen.
