● Says Court-Sacked APC Chairmen Lack Mandates to Stay on In Councils
Governor Ademola Adeleke has restated his accusation against Blue Economy Minister, Gboyega Oyetola about the Minister’s masterminding Osun local government crisis, asserting again that the self-awarded tenure of APC Chairmen lapsed in 2025 and cannot be elongated under the law and Supreme Court precedents.
Reacting to the Minister’s statement authored by his Special Adviser, Governor Adeleke, in a statement signed by his Spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, faulted the entire submission of the minister on the local government crisis, positing that the former Governor remains the chief architect of the paralysis and the untold hardship being inflicted on Osun people.
The statement from the state governor stated that a Federal High Court rather than Governor Adeleke sacked the APC chairmen in 2022 and the judgment was later validated by a Court of Appeal judgement which also acknowledged that newly validly elected chairmen and councillors of the PDP were already sworn into office.
The governor further reminded the minister if he had forgotten that the APC chairmen were sacked by the Court because their election was conducted under Mr Oyetola in violation of the electoral act which stipulates a one year notice before conducting local elections.
The statement queried Mr Oyetola on his motive for conducting local government election in violation of the law and soon after he lost his re-election bid in 2022, insisting that the minister should bear full responsibility for the paralysis of the councils which are well known to the mass of Osun people.
While the APC insisted on not quitting office despite Court rulings and while the minister ensued the seizure of Osun local governments allocations, the state governor said he implemented regular payments of salaries of local workers, questioning why Mr Oyetola prefers local workers to suffer even after blocking funding flow to the local government system.
The governor expressed shock at the minister’s denial of paralysis of local government in Osun, calling it an insult to Osun traditional rulers whose salaries could not be paid; a denigration of local workers who survive only through salaries minus the allowances; and gross contempt for local government workers who were recently molested and harassed by APC thugs and tenure-less chairmen.
“Under what authority is Mr Oyetola and his cronies in the guise of council chairmen disbursing funds meant for salaries of local government workers. Under what authority is he deciding who gets paid or not? Why are they not paying salaries of local health workers, local teachers and local retirees?”, the governor questioned.
Governor Adeleke puts the minister, the UBA and the court sacked chairmen on notice that those who mishandled Osun local government fund are going to be held accountable, adding “current mishandling of local funds will not go unpunished as this is daylight’s robbery of people’s money”
The governor further described as an attempted escape from reality the Minister’s denial of tenure lapsing for his court sacked chairmen, asking what is the legal basis for the belief of the minister that being in court is sufficient to continue in office and tampering with public funds through the backdoor.
It is even troubling for democratic sanity for the minister to hold an opinion that those who disobeyed a subsisting court judgement that sacked them from office should continue to stay in office after the expiration of such self awarded tenure contrary to the constitution and Supreme Court ruling that forbids tenure elongation.
The governor who described himself as an advocate of local government autonomy accused the minister and his party of trampling on local autonomy by self-imposing unelected politicians, by disobeying court orders, by violating laws on the operations of local government finance, and by illegally enforcing unconstitutional tenure elongation.
The governor cannot keep quiet when local workers are not being paid, when local health centres and local retirees are denied their allowances and salaries. The governor cannot keep quiet when unauthorised, unelected officials are handling local government funds.
The governor again called on Mr Oyetola to stop dragging President Bola Tinubu’s name in the mud, charging him to lift his siege on Osun local government secretariats; to get his tenure-less chairmen out of the councils; to stop issuing illegal directives to the police ; and to allow Osun people to breathe.