Shina Abubakar
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State, has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of deliberately misinforming the public about local government administration in the state.
The Governor had declared that the continued stay of APC elected council officials at the local government secretariat was illegal and undemocratic.
APC’s Chairman in Osun, Mr Tajudeen Lawal, while speaking with reporters, disclosed that Governor Adeleke was economical with the truth about local government council officials’ tenure, saying the officials went to court to determine the legality of the Executive Order the governor deployed upon assuming office in November 2022 without allowing the judicial process to take its full course.
“It is instructive that the governor avoided acknowledging a critical historical fact which we may hereby state: Upon assuming office, he summarily displaced the duly elected APC local government officials and replaced them with caretaker arrangements, without allowing the judicial process to run its full constitutional course. That initial executive action set in motion much of the instability now being unfairly blamed on others.
“Equally misleading is the governor’s claim that the reinstated APC council officials are seeking tenure elongation. The matter presently before the Federal High Court in Osogbo concerns the proper interpretation of their constitutionally guaranteed three-year tenure and the legality, or otherwise, of conducting fresh local government elections while that tenure subsists. This is a legitimate judicial inquiry, not an attempt at tenure extension “, he said.
The Chairman, who was represented by the Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, while blaming the State Government for blocking the use of funds for governance at the grassroots, urged Governor Adeleke to stop alleging that the Federal Government is withholding funds already domiciled in commercial banks.
“Governor Adeleke’s repeated allegation that the Federal Government is “withholding” local government allocations is also deceptive. What he has consistently failed to disclose is that his administration and its allies are currently engaged in multiple suits across different courts, including actions against commercial banks, expressly aimed at preventing the release of statutory allocations to the reinstated APC local government officials”, he stressed.
Fielding questions from newsmen, the ALGON chairman, Mr Abiodun Idowu, added that the council officials are already in court seeking a constitutional interpretation of their tenure issues, saying only a court pronouncement would be binding on them, not any executive rascality.
“We are law-abiding and will respect the pronouncement of the court at any moment it decides on the matter. Resorting to Court media propaganda or blackmail to resolve the dispute created by the governor”, he said.
Also, former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the State, Sunday Akere, described the allegation against the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Mr Adegboyega Oyetola as irresponsible, saying, “Mr Oyetola is not the Inspector General of Police nor Police Commissioner in the State, the police is just doing is legally backed duty owing from the Appeal Court judgement of February 10 2025. The Governor should leave Oyetola alone”
Reacting, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, disclosed that the local government crisis does not arise from propaganda, incompetence, or disregard for the judiciary by Governor Ademola Adeleke. But from a brazen effort by unelected individuals, backed by partisan federal actors, to forcefully occupy local government secre.
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