Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has reiterated his demand that the Federal Government release statutory allocations owed to local governments in the state, urging Abuja authorities to follow the Nigerian Bar Association’s and other stakeholders’ recommendations that the ongoing seizure of the funds is unconstitutional.
In response to the NBA, the Council of Obas in Osun, and other civic organizations’ interventions, Adeleke commended their bravery in defending the rule of law and the truth.
Adeleke commended the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), traditional leaders, and other interested parties for upholding the rule of law in a statement released on Wednesday. He applauded the NBA report that verified the dismissal of APC council chairmen in 2022 was a court ruling rather than an initiative of his administration.
The governor underlined that the Court of Appeal had affirmed the PDP’s victory in the February 2025 local government elections, making the new chairman and council members the only legitimate officials in power.
Adeleke said, “The action of the NBA on the Osun local government matters has cleared all doubts. By law, today, PDP elected chairmen and councillors are the rightful occupants of the Osun local government leadership.
“There is, therefore, no legal or constitutional basis for the withholding of Osun LG allocations.”
The governor expressed his gratitude to traditional leaders, prominent lawyers such as Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), and those he referred to as “lovers of justice and democracy” for standing behind Osun during the conflict.
The NBA also called for the immediate release of Osun’s allocations in a letter to Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN). Citing the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Attorney General of Lagos State v. Attorney General of the Federation (2004), the NBA said, “The withholding of allocations meant for local governments in Osun State amounts to a violation of the Constitution, a disregard for the rule of law and an affront to clear pronouncements of the courts”
The Osun APC, however, denounced the NBA’s intervention as “needless” and charged that the lawyers’ organization had overreached its authority. Tajudeen Lawal, the party chairman, accused the NBA of deceiving the public and claimed it lacked the legal right to “review” court rulings.
He said, “It is disheartening, worrisome and shameful that the NBA, a professional body that has a burden of integrity hanging on its neck, could have the shameless audacity to poke its nose in a matter that doesn’t concern it in Osun State“
“In the first instance, the NBA is not a party to the suit. They have no locus to review it. The NBA is not the Supreme Court of Nigeria. They have no jurisdiction to review or even interpret the judgement of the Court of Appeal, there is nothing in law called ‘tacit recognition’ which the NBA has, disingenuously, invented to justify its pecuniary consideration, “the party concluded.
