Osun Lawmakers Urge President Tinubu to Order Release of Withheld LG Funds

Eight members of the House of Representatives from Osun State have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the continued withholding of statutory allocations meant for the 30 local government councils in the state.

This was contained in an open letter jointly signed by eight Lawmakers from Osun State, Rep. Bamidele Salam- Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo federal constituency
Rep. AjilesoroTaofeek Abimbola- Ife Central/Ife North/Ife South/Ife East federal constituency, Rep. Omirin Emmanuel Olusanya- Atakumosa East/Atakumosa West/Ilesa East/Ilesa West federal constituency, Rep. Oladebo Lanre Alomoleye-Ayedaade/Irewole/ Isokan federal constituency, Rep. Adewale Morufu Adebayo- Irepodun/Olorunda/Osogbo/Orolu federal constituency, Rep. Mudashiru Lukman Alani- Iwo/Ayedire/Olaoluwa federal constituency, Rep. Akanni Clement Ademola- Boluwaduro/Ifedayo/Ila federal constituency, Rep. Adetunji Abidemi Olusoji -Odo Otin/Ifelodun/Boripe federal constituency addressed to the President on Thursday in Abuja.

The lawmakers, under the banner of the Osun State Caucus in the National Assembly, described the action as a clear violation of the Constitution and a threat to the principles of federalism and the rule of law which the President has long championed.

Citing Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the lawmakers argued that local government allocations must be distributed without delay or political bias, noting that the funds frozen for over four months are being held back by the Central Bank of Nigeria, reportedly on orders from the Federal Government, despite there being no legal basis for such action.

They, however, traced the issue to the nullification of a 2022 local government election in Osun State. According to them, two separate judgments by the Federal High Court, both later upheld by the Court of Appeal, voided the elections conducted under former Governor Gboyega Oyetola and ordered the removal of the purportedly elected council officials.

They noted that the current Osun State Government had since complied with the court orders and successfully conducted fresh, valid local government elections on February 22, 2025, after which new chairmen and councillors were duly sworn in.

They continued by expressing concern that withholding funds meant for salaries, rural infrastructure, primary healthcare, and other basic services was a form of injustice to the people.

Read the Full Letter

OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU

Your Exellency, Sir,

1. We, the Osun State Caucus, consisting of eight(8) members representing eight out of the nine constituencies of Osun State in the House of Representatives, National Assembly, hereby write to draw your attention to the continuous withholding of the local government allocation to the 30 Local Government councils of Osun State and which obviously constitutes breaches to the Constitution and laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and negates the established principles of true Federalism which Mr President has stood for in the last decades of our return to democracy.
2. Mr President will note that Section 162(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended states that any amount standing to the credit of the federation Account SHALL be distributed among the Federal and State and the local councils in each state on such term and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly
3. It may interest your Excellency that the local government funds currently being withheld without any justification in the last four to five months by Central Bank of Nigeria, purportedly on the orders of the Federal Government arose from the some mischiefs in the interpretation of the nullification of the purported local government election held in 2022 by two separate orders of a Federal High Court, one of which has been upheld by the Court Of Appeal.
4. The brief facts are that the former Governor of Osun State, Alh Gboyega Oyetola upon losing the 2022 Governorship election ordered the the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) to conduct a hurriedly packaged local government election which gave only two months notice to political parties and stakeholders contrary to a minimum of 360 days provided by the Electoral Act and Osun State Electoral Law.
5. The People’s Democratic Party and the Action Peoples Party approached the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo to challenge the conduct of the said election on the basis of its non-compliance with constitutional and statutory provisions as well as upon other grounds well enunciated in the unopposed affidavits of the plaintiffs in the two separate suits.
6. In a judgment delivered on November 25 2022, the Court granted all the reliefs sought by PDP and made a consequential order nullifying the Local Government elections conducted by OSIEC on October 15 2022 and directed all Local Government executives purportedly elected to vacate office.
7. In a separate Suit filed by Action Peoples Party (APP) before the same Federal High Court in FHC/OS/CS/103/2022 against Osun State Independent Electoral Commission and others (including the APC), the Federal High Court sitting in Oshogbo on November 30 2022 granted all the reliefs sought by APP and specifically nullified the election conducted on October 15 2022 and sacked all persons occupying offices pursuant to the October 15 2022 elections.
8. The APC was dissatisfied by the judgments secured in the separate suits upon which it filed two appeals before the Court of Appeal in Akure division.
9. While the appellant pursued one of the Appeals and got a judgement in its favour on the matter of jurisdiction but WITHOUT ANY ORDER REINSTATING the sacked Chairmen, it abandoned the appeal of the second judgement upon which the court dismissed the Appeal and thus upholding the judgement which nullified the September 15th 2022 local Government election.
10. It may interest your Excellency to note that the Court of Appeal has in a more recent unanimous judgement delivered on Friday 13th of June, 2025, affirmed the sack of those purportedly elected in the disputed 2022 election and berated the APC for sleeping over its appeal for two years and describing the injury of the appellant as self-inflicted.
11. We have gone this far to show your excellency that there is absolutely no shred of legal or judicial justification for anyone to advise that funds meant for the third tier of government in Osun State be withheld especially in view of the fact that a fresh and valid local Govrrnment election had successfully been conducted on the 22nd of Febrruary 2025 in line with the orders of the court and elected Chairmen and Councillors have been sworn in by the Governor.
12. As elected representatives of the People, we are worried that funds meant to pay salary of local government workers, fix rural roads, provide water, maintain primary health care centres and perform other obligations of Government are being withheld by the Federal Government in this manner that suggests playing politics with the security and welfare of our people.
13. We recall your Excellency’s courageous stand against a similar injustice that was meted out to you as Governor of Lagos State in 2003-2004, which resulted in the Supreme court judgement where it was held among others that the Federal Government lacks the power to withhold allocations meant for States or Local Governments in a Federal System of Government. In the words of the Supreme Court in the Lagos case “ The President has no power vested in him by executive or administrative action to suspend or withhold by any period whatsoever the statutory allocation due and payable to Lagos State Government pursuant to the provision of Section 162 (5) of the 1999 constitution.
14. We are even more worried by recent boastings by some political players in Osun State that the seized funds will be paid to persons who have no legal capacity to manage such, being neither elected chairmen or Directors of Finance of Local Governments but whose only claim or entitlement is belonging to a ‘ruling party’.
15. Knowing your pedigree as a crusader for Social justice, true federalism, fiscal discipline and rule of law, we do not want to believe such impunity will be authorised concerning Osun State or any other states in the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.
16. In view of the above, we respectfully invite your Excellency to:

a. Mandate the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy/ Accountant General of the Federation to authorise and ensure the immediate disbursement of all outstanding allocations due to Osun State’s Local Government Councils from February 2025 to the State Local Government Joint Accounts for immediate release to all local Governments in Osun State.

b. Instruct the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to facilitate the prompt release and transfer of these funds to the known accounts as being done to other States in the Federation where the legal signatories are Heads of Local Governments and Directors of Finance of each Local Government as authenticated by the AUDITOR GENERAL FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF OSUN STATE.

c. Direct the Attorney General and Minister of justice to respect the sanctity of our courts and avoid imputing personal prejudices into issues that are clear and unambiguous in the various judicial proceedings on the local government administration in Osun State.

We assure Mr President of our continuous support in the onerous task of Nation building and pray that God endows you with wisdom, courage and good health to take Nigeria to greater heights.