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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Osun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has lambasted the Minister of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, for releasing the Osun State local government allocation to the ‘sacked chairmen’ of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It described the Federal Government’s action as ‘abuse of power,’ maintaining that the payment of allocation from March to September to the APC was ‘bizarre and unbelievable.’
NULGE president in Osun, Nathaniel Ogungbanghe, at a press conference in Osogbo, yesterday, alleged that the allocation was paid to a newly opened account.
The NULGE insisted that the judgments of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal have removed the APC chairmen from the local governments and the new elections have been held with new chairmen and councillors elected and sworn-in, saying, “The Attorney-General cannot assume the role of the Supreme Court by setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the sacking of the APC politicians by the Federal High Court. The Attorney-General is not above the law.
“Today, we have it on good authority that the three principal officers of the Federal Government have released the Osun State local government councils allocations from March 2025 to September 2025, to the illegal bank accounts opened by the court-sacked APC chairmen and councillors.
“We find this development very scary and alarming. Paying local government allocations into privately opened and illegal bank accounts of politicians is unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented in the history of public administration in Nigeria.
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“Gentlemen, these funds were paid into the accounts opened by these APC men with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. Despite the fact that due process was not followed in opening the said accounts.
“We believe that if the three principal officers of the Federal Government and the entire Federal Government which they represent do not have respect for our constitution, which they have sworn to uphold, they ought to have respect for our judicial authorities, particularly the Supreme Court of Nigeria, before whom the suit in respect of the funds is currently pending.
“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.
“However, 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 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 30 local governments in various commercial banks. What informed the opening of the UBA accounts by the APC politicians in the names of the 30 local governments in Osun State, with the active support of the Attorney-General of the Federation?
Ogungbangbe, therefore, urged the council workers to avoid working with the APC officials, saying it was illegal.
