By Richard Akintade, Osogbo
Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Osun State Chapter has condemned the reported release of the withheld Osun State Local Government Councils Allocations for the month of March, 2025 to September, 2025 to the Bank Accounts opened by court-sacked APC Chairmen and Councillors
NULGE President in Osun State, Com. Dr. Kehinde Nathaniel Ogungbangbe revealed the rejection of such action while speaking at the press conference held at the state Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs
Ogungbangbe, described the release of the funds to APC officials as an abuse of power by key Federal Government officials, including the Minister of Finance, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“We have it on good authority that these three principal officers of the Federal Government have released the Osun State local government councils’ allocations for the months of March 2025 to August 2025 into the illegal bank accounts opened by court-sacked APC chairmen and councillors,” Ogungbangbe stated.
He expressed shock at the development, calling it “unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented in the history of public administration in Nigeria.”
He said further, “It is on record that the Federal High Court of Nigeria on 15th May, 2025 ordered parties to maintain status quo, an order which has been acknowledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as hindering them from making payment.
“It is public knowledge that the Federal High Court is to further sit on this matter on 29th September, 2025. It is worrisome that these officers and the Federal Authorities, which they represent, do not have respect for the authority of the Courts. We wish to remind them that a Country that does not have respect for its own Judicial Authorities is digging its own grave.
“We have no iota of doubt that the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had effectively sacked these purported APC Chairmen and Councillors from Office.
“Since the Federal Government, led by an interested Attorney-General, holds a contrary view, common sense dictates that the Apex Court should have been allowed to pronounce one way or the other before it would proceed to pay the statutory allocations to the accounts opened by its own choice officials, rather than the accounts legally opened by the Thirty (30) Local Governments with the statutory career officers as signatories.
“We are not politicians, but our work as career officers who are expected to protect the assets of the Councils is directly impacted by this illegal action of the Federal Government. There are existing Bank Accounts of the Thirty (30) Local Governments in various commercial banks. What informed the opening of the UBA Accounts by the APC politicians in the names of the Thirty (30) Local Governments in Osun State, with the active support of the Attorney-General of the Federation?
