Osun LG Funds: APC tackles NBA over involvement as Adeleke appeals to FG
As condemnation trails the withholding of funds of local government in Osun State, the ruling All Progressives Congress has tackled the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA for rejecting actions of the federal government.
Meanwhile, the state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has continued appealing to the federal government to listen to plea from different section of the society including the NBA and traditional rulers, by releasing the seized funds to enable development at the grassroots level.
Adeleke had praised the NBA for upholding the rule of law and truth saying “we are vindicated on all fronts on our rightful claim on the local government crisis,” the governor said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the governor, steps taken by the NBA on the Osun local government matters has cleared all doubts.
He said “there is, therefore, no legal or constitutional basis for the withholding of Osun LG allocations.
“I must particularly commend the NBA leadership for setting up a committee to investigate the Osun local government question and for demonstrating the rare courage to release the report which declared that there is no legal basis for the continuous withholding of Osun local government allocations.
“After their sack in 2022, the APC chairmen filed for stay of execution which the court denied. I was not in any way responsible for their sack. The NBA’s finding has authenticated this reality”.
The NBA had, in a letter to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), demanded the immediate release of Osun’s local government funds, describing their continued withholding as “unconstitutional, unlawful and a dangerous affront to the rule of law.”
NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), and General Secretary, Mobolaji Ojibara, signed the letter, which stressed that the President had no powers to suspend or withhold local government funds.
“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 NBA stated, citing the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Attorney General of Lagos State v. Attorney General of the Federation (2004).
The NBA also warned that such actions set a “dangerous precedent, weaken public confidence in democratic institutions, and embolden lawlessness at all levels.”
The association has since directed its National Litigation Committee and Section on Public Interest and Development Law to engage stakeholders and warned that it may head to court if dialogue fails.
But the Osun APC faulted the NBA over its intervention in the matter.
The APC in a statement signed by its chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, on Wednesday, described the NBA’s intervention as “needless” and a “disappointment,” accusing the association of turning itself into a law court.
“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,” the statement read.
It argued that , “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 APC NBA’s opinion is not superior to the Constitution, warning that its intervention was “capable of misleading the public.” It urged the association’s leadership “to desist from using the name of the noble profession to trade.”
The Daily Times recalled that the crisis dated back to October 2022 when former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola conducted controversial elections which was nullified by the Federal High Court.
The Court of Appeal’s in June 13, 2025 judgment, which upheld the February 2025 polls won by the PDP.
