The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday urged the Federal Government to immediately release statutory allocations due to local government councils in Osun State, describing the continued withholding of the funds as unconstitutional, illegal, and a dangerous affront to judicial pronouncements.
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In a strongly worded letter to the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, the NBA called on the Federal Government to respect the rule of law and refrain from setting what it termed a “dangerous precedent” that weakens confidence in democratic institutions.
The Association, in the letter jointly signed by its President and General Secretary, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, and Mobolaji Ojibara, respectively, expressed concern over unrefuted reports that allocations from the Federation Account meant for Osun councils have been withheld since February 2025.
The NBA said there was “no legal justification” for the action, warning that “it cannot but constitute clear impunity were it to be true that funds meant for the LGAs are currently being seized or withheld.”
The body recalled that a series of court judgments had already clarified the legal status of local government leadership in Osun State. It noted that while the October 15, 2022 elections produced All Progressives Congress, APC, chairmen and councillors, subsequent judgments of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, nullified their elections.
It stressed that these PDP officials were “the only valid and legitimate officials” entitled to occupy council offices and, by extension, receive statutory allocations.
“It is the considered view of the NBA, supported by the correct interpretation of the relevant judgments of the Court of Appeal, that the only valid and legitimate officials who can legally occupy the elective offices in the LGAs in Osun State are those of the PDP. They are, therefore, legitimately entitled to the release of the funds meant for their respective councils,” the letter stated.
Meanwhile, traditional rulers in Osun State, under the aegis of the Council of Obas, urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene and resolve the non-release of local government council funds.
The monarchs, after a meeting at the Ooni’s palace in Ile-Ife, lamented that council secretariats had been inactive since February following the crisis, warning that the situation was crippling governance at the grassroots.
In a statement issued by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the royal fathers stressed that the seizure of funds was undermining the traditional institution, which depends on five percent deductions from local government allocations to function.
They urged President Tinubu to wade into the matter urgently, stressing that his intervention would not only reenergize local government administration in Osun State but also strengthen the traditional institution to complement his government’s “Renewed Hope Agenda.”
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