The Osun State Government has denied claims that it is coercing career officers in local governments to change the signatories of council accounts. This follows an ongoing power struggle between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) over local government administration in the state.
The Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in Osun, Mr. Adewale Adebayo, alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration was pressuring Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to alter council account signatories.
“We reliably gathered that Adeleke’s government has started taking 30 Local Government Area Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to an undisclosed location forcefully. This is unconnected to the contention over who controls the local government.
“The HLAs and the Directors of Finance were taken to these locations to be pressured into changing signatories of council accounts to the newly elected officials.
“These individuals have been reportedly held against their will, an act that undermines the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
“Despite judicial pronouncements from the Court of Appeal upholding the October 15, 2022, council election, the state government continues to act in a manner that contradicts the spirit of the verdict,”* Adebayo alleged.
In response, Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, dismissed the allegations as baseless, describing them as “mere speculation.”
“This is just an attempt to say something because the Commissioner for Local Government has confirmed that he never gave such a directive. They have made themselves look foolish in the eyes of the public, so they want to create a false narrative.
“We have never changed any local government account signatories. They should remain troubled. APM is just crying more than the bereaved,”* Alimi stated.
Meanwhile, the APC in Osun has urged local government workers to resume their duties, maintaining that they should not take sides in the ongoing political battle over council control. Jamiu Olawumi, a former Special Adviser on Education under ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, insisted that reinstated local government chairmen had issued a 72-hour ultimatum for workers to return to their duty posts.
However, the Osun chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rejected the directive, with its Chairman, Christopher Arapasopo, stating that workers would only resume when their safety was guaranteed.
Despite this, Olawumi reiterated that workers were expected back at their offices by Thursday, noting that chairmen and councillors had already begun running the councils without them.
“It is quite unfortunate that they (workers) are becoming partisan. They need to understand that they are not employed by the state government but by individual local governments. That is why they have Heads of Local Government Administration.
“We encourage them to eschew partisanship and focus on their work. The ultimatum lapses today (Wednesday), and we expect them to resume tomorrow (Thursday). If they don’t, we will continue persuading them to see reasons why they must not be partisan. We are running, and we are running,” Olawumi said.
