The Forum of Local Government Vice Chairmen in Osun State, made up of officials elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has publicly challenged Governor Ademola Adeleke to provide a detailed account of more than ₦200 billion in local government allocations allegedly received by the state government between December 2022 and January 2025. The demand was announced in a statement signed by the forum’s chairman, Victor Fatoki, and made available to journalists in Osogbo on Friday.
The vice chairmen accused the state administration of failing to transparently manage critical funds meant for grassroots governance. “We are calling on Governor Ademola Adeleke to demonstrate transparency by accounting for the funds accrued to Osun local governments between December 2022 and January 2025,” the forum said in the statement, insisting that official figures show over ₦200 billion in statutory allocations should have been received during the period under review.
The group further contended that the impact of the alleged funds was not visible across local government areas, citing a lack of identifiable projects or interventions in communities such as Atakunmosa East, Ila, Ifedayo, Boluwaduro and Obokun. “This raises serious questions about financial management and governance at the grassroots,” the statement said.
Governor Adeleke’s administration responded sharply. Through his deputy spokesperson, Oladele Bamiji, the governor dismissed the APC vice chairmen as entities unknown to law and state governance structures, asserting that their claims did not merit official engagement. Bamiji also accused the group of seeking to “disrupt public order” and warned against actions capable of destabilising the state.
In an extended rebuttal within the original Punch report, Adeleke said: “There is nothing like a Forum of Vice Chairmen elected on the platform of any political party…if they were duly recognized by the law, their election was properly done and the court did not sack them as it were, maybe we would give them attention. But as it were, we do not know them; maybe they are some other miscreants who are just looking for attention.”
The dispute over local government funds in Osun State forms part of a broader, ongoing political and legal battle between the state government and the APC. Since February 2025, when a crisis over the leadership of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) escalated, the control and release of statutory allocations have been contested. Both parties have approached different courts, with claims that funds meant for councils have been withheld amidst the standoff.
The state government has, in other forums, accused the Federal Government and certain agencies of withholding or misdirecting allocations due to controversies over council leadership legitimacy, a narrative Governor Adeleke repeated in a recent broadcast as he sought the release of over ₦130 billion in withheld LG funds.
Conversely, critics of the governor argue that the state’s legal challenges and governance decisions have complicated the disbursement and utilisation of local government resources. A recent rebuttal from an ally of former governor Gboyega Oyetola contended these allegations distract from unresolved legal challenges and insisted that local government councils remain operational with staff at their posts.
As both sides trade accusations, the demand by the APC vice chairmen for an accounting of more than ₦200 billion in local government funds adds another layer to the protracted political feud in Osun State, highlighting deep fault lines over governance, legality, and financial transparency at the grassroots level.
