Osun to FG: Don’t release LG funds to sacked APC chairmen

The Osun State Government has asked the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, not to seek presidential approval to release withheld local government funds to accounts allegedly opened by former All Progressives Congress (APC) council chairmen and councilors “sacked” by court rulings. In a letter signed by Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, counsel to the state, and addressed […]

The Osun State Government has asked the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, not to seek presidential approval to release withheld local government funds to accounts allegedly opened by former All Progressives Congress (APC) council chairmen and councilors “sacked” by court rulings.

In a letter signed by Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, counsel to the state, and addressed to Edun, the government expressed concerns over reports that the minister had written to President Bola Tinubu requesting authorisation to disburse the funds despite a pending Supreme Court case.

The letter, titled Notification of the Pendency of Suit No: SC/CV/773/2025, recalled that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had removed the APC officials from office, with the judgments unchallenged to date.

It warned that paying funds into “illegal accounts” would constitute a grievous assault on the rule of law.

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“It is inconceivable that you would ask the president to authorise the release of disputed funds to court-sacked chairmen and councillors. Such action would mock justice and undermine the authority of both the courts and the president himself,” the letter read. The state government said the withheld funds belong to Osun’s 30 local councils and should serve farmers, teachers, pensioners, health workers and children, not politicians removed by judicial order.

It said Osun should receive the same treatment as other states where local governments continue to access allocations through their state-local government joint accounts.

Efforts to obtain a response from the finance ministry’s spokesperson, Mohammed Manga, were unsuccessful.