The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Osun State chapter, has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of colluding with members of the All Progressives Congress to illegally open and operate bank accounts in the names of local government areas in the state.
Addressing a press conference held in Osogbo on Thursday, the state ALGON chairman, Sarafadeen Awotunde, flanked by other members of the association, alleged that the scheme was exposed when Mr Kunle Adegoke, an APC governorship aspirant and counsel to the party, on a live television programme, claimed that such accounts existed with APC members as signatories.
He said the development was “a brazen illegality” and “an attempt to divert Osun people’s money into private and political pockets.”
Awotunde said, “On the 28th of August, 2025, during a live broadcast of the ARISE TV Morning Show, Mr Kunle Adegoke openly admitted that the Central Bank of Nigeria has opened accounts in the names of local government councils in Osun State, and that the signatories to those accounts are not the legitimate civil servants but members of the APC recruited to claim local government civil service positions and offices illegally,” Awotunde declared.
Awotunde referenced the law as stipulating that only statutory civil servants such as Heads of Local Government Administration, Directors of Administration and Directors of Finance are the recognised signatories to council accounts.
“Throughout the democratic world, politicians do not sign government cheques,” he added.
He further held that the APC council chairmen lacked legitimacy, citing judicial pronouncements that had voided their elections.
“Their purported election was nullified by the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo on 30th November, 2022, a judgment that was further affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Akure on 13th June, 2025. That is the settled law. They remain sacked,” he emphasised.
He further claimed that officials of the Osogbo branch of the CBN allegedly turned away the genuine civil servants when they attempted to open the local government accounts, while accepting APC members as signatories.
“This action is a brazen illegality, a disregard for subsisting court judgments, an infraction against banking and public account rules, and a direct threat to the welfare of the people of Osun State whose funds are at stake,” he stated.
To back their claims, ALGON presented certified documents, including regulations prescribing statutory signatories to LG accounts, withdrawal of certificates of return earlier issued to the sacked APC chairmen by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, valid certificates of return issued to ALGON leaders in February 2025, and the two court judgments affirming their legitimacy.
ALGON also queried why Osun State appeared to be singled out by the federal authorities in the disbursement of local government funds.
“As we speak here today, all local governments in all the other 35 states have continued to receive their monthly allocations through the State-Local Government Joint Accounts as contained in the 1999 Constitution. The AGF and his allies are upholding the rule of power and politics over the rule of law. It is most unfortunate,” they said.
The chairmen vowed to resist what they called a dangerous plot against the people of the state.
“We assure the people of Osun State that ALGON will not relent in defending the mandate freely given to us and in protecting the collective patrimony of our local governments. Justice must prevail,” he added.
The group demanded an urgent probe of the matter by the CBN leadership, insisting that the bank must investigate its Osogbo branch officials and call Adegoke to substantiate his claims.
Efforts to reach the Acting Director of Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Ali, for comment on the story were unsuccessful.
Calls were made, but they were not connected, and no response was received to the WhatsApp messages delivered as of the time of filing this story.
Reacting, Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, described the PDP LG chairmen as impostors.
He said the February 10 2025, Court of Appeal, Akure judgement had reinstated the APC local government council chairmen and councillors, making them the legally recognised executive heads of councils in the state.
He said, “As a matter of fact, it is not our habit to reply to an unsigned statement which is worth less than an ordinary piece of paper. But because a lie persistently repeated could be taken for the truth by the unsuspecting members of the public, we shall endeavour to state unequivocally that the 10th February 2025 Court of Appeal judgment, which expressly reinstated the All Progressives Congress APC local government council chairmen and councillors, is explicit enough for proper comprehension even by non-lawyers.
“In the eyes of the law, the reinstated elected APC local government council chairmen are the legally recognised executive local government bosses in charge of the council affairs in Osun State today. The only known and recognised state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria is Abiodun Idowu, who is duly acknowledged at the headquarters of the body in Abuja.
“Those behind the composition of the unsigned purported press statement knew the implication, which was the reason they are afraid to put forward the name of their fellow impostors,” Olabisi said.
The party enjoined members of the public to discountenance the PDP chairmen’s claim, insisting that they were impersonators, calling themselves members of the Osun State ALGON.
