The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Osun State chapter, has raised alarm over what it described as a plot to divert local government allocations meant for the people of the state.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo on Monday, the union’s State President, Dr. Nathaniel Kehinde Ogungbangbe, accused powerful interests of attempting to use the courts to subvert justice and return sacked All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors to office through the “backdoor.”
According to him, since February 2025, local government allocations in the state have been withheld following a legal dispute initiated by the Osun State Government at the Federal High Court.
The government, he said, sought to restrain the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Accountant-General of the Federation and others from allegedly diverting funds to the dismissed council officials.
“Despite a clear court order for all parties to maintain the status quo, attempts were made to open accounts for these sacked officials to illegally divert allocations,” Ogungbangbe alleged, noting that it took public outcry and the ruling of the Court of Appeal on June 13, 2025, to halt the move.
He expressed concern that the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation had now declared the case “urgent” and was pushing for it to be heard in Abuja during the ongoing court vacation.
“We ask: Why the rush? Why Abuja? Why now? This so-called urgency is nothing but self-created. They have been served since May 16, 2025, yet they failed to act. To suddenly cry urgency in August is an insult to justice and due process,” he said.
The NULGE leader further accused the AGF’s office of “lying on oath” by claiming it was not served court processes, despite an affidavit of service sworn to by the court bailiff.
Quoting the Court of Appeal’s earlier judgment, Ogungbangbe maintained that the February 22, 2025, local government election in Osun was valid and that the removal of APC chairmen and councillors had been affirmed.
“In simple terms, there is no valid tenure for the sacked officials. What is left to be heard urgently? We smell a plot to use the Abuja vacation court to secure through the back door what the Court of Appeal has already denied,” he said.
He insisted that the funds in question belong to the local governments and, by extension, the people of Osun State.
Calling for vigilance, Ogungbangbe warned that any attempt to “rob the people of their resources through legal shortcuts” would be resisted through all lawful means.
“As a union, we cannot keep silent while the downtrodden of Osun are being oppressed. Justice cannot be ambushed,” he added.
