From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has expressed concern over what it described as a deliberate plot to hijack Local Government funds in Osun State, warning of possible action if impostors are allowed to operate Local Government accounts.
President General of the union, Aliyu Kankara, said this on Wednesday during a press briefing in Abuja, where he also condemned the continued failure of the Federal Government to implement the 2024 Supreme Court judgment on Local Government financial autonomy.
Reacting to a letter from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation dated June 10, 2025, which allegedly directed unauthorised individuals to sign applications for access to Osun LG accounts, Kankara said the union will not fold its arms.
“If the CBN refuses to pay funds to the legitimate signatories, we will convene our organs, deliberate, and see the next line of action to take. Like you know, we are a labour union, and we know the kind of actions we can take. we know our last resort.
Kankara described the development in Osun as an open assault on the law and a threat to grassroots governance.
“One of the actions we are taking now is to alert Nigerians and all stakeholders that this is what is happening in Osun State. And if you allow people who are not supposed to have access to the funds of local government, then there will be serious consequences.
“These people are impostors. And they want to have access to the funds meant for local government,” he added.
He expressed fears about the implications for staff welfare and service delivery, saying, “We are so scared that our members. We do not know the fate of our members. If you allow somebody who is not supposed to be the authentic signatory to the local government account to have access to that account, all of us here know what is going to happen with the money.”
Kankara further criticised the Federal Government for refusing to enforce the Supreme Court judgment of July 14, 2024, which declared that LG allocations must be paid directly to councils, not through state-controlled joint accounts.
“The Supreme Court judgment for local government autonomy has not been implemented up till now. No single state has started receiving allocation directly,” he said.
“We do not need to do anything. We are in a democracy where there should be respect for the rule of law. And the Supreme Court has already spoken.
“Nobody in this country can overturn the decision of the Supreme Court. But all the same, being what we are, we are still trying to see that we talk to the stakeholders, we talk to the relevant federal government departments and agencies to see that they implement the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.
He blamed some governors and political forces for working behind the scenes to stop the judgment’s implementation. “From the information available to this union, it is the same political actors, I mean the state governments, that are trying to stop the implementation of this Supreme Court judgment.”
The union leader called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and stop what it called “a coordinated sabotage” of a reform he championed as Lagos Governor.
He urged the CBN, the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to release all withheld Osun LG allocations from January 2025 to date, in compliance with the Court of Appeal ruling delivered on June 13, 2025, affirming the tenure of the elected PDP LG Chairmen in the state.
“We are inviting the attention of all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to this affront on the law, barefaced attempts to rubbish his legacies, most especially the same battle you fought and won as a Governor of Lagos State some years ago,” he said.
Kankara commended members of the union in Osun for their resilience, urging them to remain calm as the union continues to seek a lawful resolution.