Osun LG funds: NBA’s panel report vindicates us, says Adeleke

• Commends monarchs for intervention

By Shina Abubakar, Osogbo

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has disclosed that the report of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, on the crisis leading to seizure of local government council funds in the state has vindicated his administration of any wrongdoing.

He also commended the Council of Obas in the state under the leadership of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, for its intervention, pleading with the federal government to release the seized fund.

It would be recalled that the NBA in a letter addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the group’s President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, and General Secretary, Mobolaji Ojibara, demanded that allocations from the Federation Account to Osun’s 30 local governments be released to the duly elected council chairmen and councillors who emerged from the February 22, 2025 local government elections.

Speaking on the heel of the NBA’s report on the size fund, Governor Adeleke, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said the body has demonstrated rare courage to have released its report vindicating the state government.

“I must particularly commend the NBA leadership for setting up a committee to investigate the Osun local government question and for demonstrating the rare courage to release the report, which declared that there is no legal basis for the continuous withholding of Osun local government allocations.

“I am particularly pleased that the NBA report noted that it was a court of law that sacked the APC Chairmen from office in 2022, not me as being peddled in some quarters. After their sack in 2022, the APC Chairmen filed for a stay of execution, which the court denied. I was not in any way responsible for their sack. The NBA findings have authenticated this reality.

“The election of February 22, 2025, to fill the vacuum created by the judicial sack of the APC Chairmen was conducted in compliance with another court order. Our administration has acted all along within the confines of the law and the constitution, as affirmed by the NBA letter to the Attorney General of the Federation.

“The action of the NBA on the Osun local government matters has cleared all doubts anybody may be harbouring as the rightful elected chairmen and councillors for Osun local governments are those elected on February 23rd, 2025, as again pronounced by the Court of Appeal of June 13th, 2025. By law, today, PDP elected chairmen and councillors are the rightful occupants of the Osun local government leadership.

“There is therefore no legal or constitutional basis for the withholding of Osun LG allocations. I thank our royal fathers,Mention Musibau Adetunbi SAN, Mike Ozekhome SAN, Jacob Okutepa SAN, Ademola Oyedokun Esq and other lovers of Justice, democracy and rule of law for supporting and standing for truth on the Osun LG fund crisis.

“I again call on the Federal Government to release Osun seized allocations in line with the law and demands of the constitution. We will continue to deploy due process and rule of law in our struggle for Justice on this matter”, the Governor added.

The governor also described the move of the traditional rulers in the state appealing to federal government on the issue as fatherly and urged the FG to heed the voice of reason.

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