• APC berates NULGE, labels it interloper
The Concerned Muslim Stakeholders and League of Alfas in Osun State, yesterday, lambasted the League of Imams and Alfas under the leadership of Musa Animasahun, for allegedly calling on President Bola Tinubu to release the state’s local councils’ allocation to the Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration.

Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, the president of the group, Khozeem AbdurRaham, accused the clerics of jettisoning their spiritual responsibilities by allegedly turning themselves into the mouthpiece of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He expressed concern that the League of Imams and Alfas, claiming to be speaking for the Muslim Ummah, could abandon the Islamic brotherhood by becoming a religious mouthpiece of the Governor Ademola Adeleke-led PDP government at the detriment of the interests of other Muslims in various political parties.

AbdurRaham said: “How could one reasonably comprehend the call of the League of Imams and Alfas directing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the local government allocations to the PDP-led Governor Ademola administration in Osun State against all the laws of the land, as pronounced by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in July 2024.

“Obviously, the League of Imams and Alfas must not claim to be oblivious of the illegality involved in such a calling because the Supreme Court in AGF v. AG Abia granted financial autonomy to the Local Governments in Nigeria in July 2024. The Alfas should not be seen forming part of the efforts of the Governor Ademola Adeleke’s desperation to still illegally collect the allocations.”

He, however, lauded Osun residents for not being influenced by what his group termed “government-sponsored lies.”

IN a related development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees’ (NULGE) interference in the ongoing crisis across councils in the state as that of a meddlesome interloper.

Recall that the NULGE leadership in the state had alleged that the Central Bank of Nigeria had concluded plans to release the seized council funds to the APC-elected council officials sacked by the court.

However, APC, in a statement issued by the State Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal and made available to newsmen by Kola Olabisi on Monday, described NULGE as an appendage of the PDP-led administration.