Osun ALGON Accuses CBN, APC of Illegal LG Accounts

A fresh controversy has erupted in Osun State after the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Osun chapter, accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of colluding with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to illegally open and operate bank accounts in the names of local government councils. The allegation has sparked a heated political and legal debate over who truly controls the grassroots administration of the state.

The claims were made during a press conference in Osogbo on Thursday, where the state ALGON chairman, Sarafadeen Awotunde, addressed journalists alongside other council leaders. Awotunde alleged that the scandal came to light after APC governorship aspirant and legal counsel to the party, Kunle Adegoke, revealed on live television that such accounts existed, with APC members serving as signatories.

According to Awotunde, the revelation was not only shocking but a blatant violation of the law. “On the 28th of August 2025, during a live broadcast of the ARISE TV Morning Show, Mr. Kunle Adegoke openly admitted that the Central Bank of Nigeria has opened accounts in the names of local government councils in Osun State, and that the signatories to those accounts are not the legitimate civil servants but members of the APC recruited to claim local government civil service positions and offices illegally,” he declared.

Awotunde described the development as “a brazen illegality” and “an attempt to divert Osun people’s money into private and political pockets.” He emphasized that under the law, only statutory civil servants such as Heads of Local Government Administration, Directors of Administration, and Directors of Finance are recognized signatories to local government accounts. “Throughout the democratic world, politicians do not sign government cheques,” he noted.

The ALGON chairman further insisted that the APC chairmen lacked legitimacy in the first place. He cited the ruling of the Federal High Court in Osogbo delivered on November 30, 2022, which nullified their elections, and the subsequent judgment of the Court of Appeal in Akure on June 13, 2025, which affirmed the decision. “That is the settled law. They remain sacked,” Awotunde stressed, arguing that any attempt to reinstate them or use their names in financial dealings was unlawful.

He accused officials of the CBN branch in Osogbo of siding with the APC. According to him, genuine civil servants were turned away when they attempted to open official accounts for the councils, while APC members were allegedly accepted as signatories. “This action is a disregard for subsisting court judgments, an infraction against banking and public account rules, and a direct threat to the welfare of the people of Osun State whose funds are at stake,” he said.

To strengthen their case, ALGON presented several documents to the press. These included regulations specifying the statutory signatories to council accounts, certificates of return previously withdrawn from the APC chairmen by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, new certificates issued to ALGON leaders in February 2025, and the court judgments confirming their legitimacy.

The group also questioned why Osun appeared to be singled out in the handling of local government funds by federal authorities. They pointed out that in the other 35 states, allocations are still disbursed through the State-Local Government Joint Accounts, in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. “The Attorney-General of the Federation and his allies are upholding the rule of power and politics over the rule of law. It is most unfortunate,” ALGON said.

Vowing to resist what they described as a dangerous plot, the chairmen assured the people of Osun that they would not relent in defending the mandate freely given to them. “Justice must prevail,” Awotunde declared, calling for an urgent probe of the matter by the CBN leadership and demanding that Adegoke be compelled to provide evidence of his claims.

Efforts by journalists to obtain comments from the Acting Director of Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Ali, were unsuccessful. Calls placed to her office were not connected, and WhatsApp messages sent went unanswered as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, the APC swiftly responded, dismissing ALGON’s allegations as baseless and politically motivated. The party’s spokesperson in Osun, Kola Olabisi, described the PDP-led council leaders as impostors with no legal standing. He argued that the Court of Appeal ruling delivered on February 10, 2025, had already reinstated the APC local government chairmen and councillors as the legitimate officeholders in the state.

“As a matter of fact, it is not our habit to reply to an unsigned statement which is worth less than an ordinary piece of paper. But because a lie persistently repeated could be taken for the truth by unsuspecting members of the public, we must respond,” Olabisi said. He added that the reinstated APC chairmen remain the legally recognized heads of the councils and that the only valid ALGON chairman in Osun is Abiodun Idowu, who is duly recognized at the national headquarters of the association in Abuja.

According to Olabisi, the PDP chairmen are simply impersonating ALGON leaders in the state. “Those behind the composition of the unsigned purported press statement knew the implication, which was why they are afraid to put forward the names of their fellow impostors,” he stated, urging the public to disregard the claims.

The unfolding dispute highlights the broader tension between political control and institutional accountability in Nigeria’s local government system. While ALGON insists that court rulings have settled the question of legitimacy in their favor, the APC continues to assert its right to lead councils in Osun. At the center of it all lies the control of local government funds a powerful tool in grassroots politics and governance.

For now, the accusations against the CBN and the counterclaims by the APC deepen the uncertainty, leaving the people of Osun to wonder whose hands are truly on the purse strings of their local councils.