No legal ground for withholding councils funds, says Adetunbi 
As the debacle over the withheld monthly allocations of local councils in Osun persists, Governor Ademola Adeleke and the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have disagreed over the role played by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the crisis.

Adeleke, while lauding the NBA for calling on the Federal Government to release the monthly allocations to the newly elected council chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the February 22 election conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), the APC lambasted the professional body for its alleged “devious meddlesomeness in the crisis”.

In a statement by his Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor particularly commended the NBA leadership for setting up a committee to investigate the crisis and for demonstrating the rare courage to ask for the release of the report, which declared that there was no legal basis for the continuous withholding of Osun council allocations.

Adeleke stated: “I am particularly pleased that the NBA’s report clearly noted that it was a court of law that sacked the APC chairmen from office in 2022 and not me, as being peddled in some quarters. After their sack in 2022, the APC chairmen filed for a stay of execution, which the court denied. I was not responsible for their sack. The NBA’s findings have authenticated this reality.

“The election of February 22, 2025, to fill the vacuum created by the judicial sack of the APC chairmen was conducted in compliance with another court order. Our administration has acted all along within the confines of the law and the Constitution, as affirmed by the NBA’s letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

“The action of the NBA on the Osun councils’ matters has cleared all doubts anybody may be harbouring as the rightful elected chairmen and councillors for the councils are those elected on February 22, 2025.”

But reacting to Adeleke’s position, the state Chairman of the APC, Tajudeen Lawal, in another statement by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Kunle Olabisi, lampooned the NBA for being a meddlesome interloper over the lingering leadership crisis plaguing the councils.

Lawal said: “The NBA was needlessly dabbling in the issue of the delay in the payment of the allocations for the councils. We had thought that the body, which ideally is of noble professionals in the mastery of the law, was coming up with an enactment of a new law. But alas! Its outing was a bundle of disappointment to the chagrin of the right-thinking members of society!

“That the NBA leadership could descend so low to have illegally constituted itself into a law court speaks volume of what irredeemable mess those saddled with the responsibility of leading the highly revered legal body had turned it into.

“In the first instance, the NBA is not a party to the suit. It has no locus to review it. The NBA is not the Supreme Court of Nigeria and has no jurisdiction to review or even interpret the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

“It is appalling that the NBA leadership could not lend its voice to condemn the ruthless killing of one of our reinstated council chairmen, Remi Abass, and other members and supporters of our party by the political hoodlums.”

Meanwhile, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Musibau Adetunbi, has criticised the Federal Government for withholding funds meant for Osun State councils, warning that the action undermines the rule of law and democratic governance.

Adetunbi, while during an interview on Arise News, yesterday, said he was not aware of any valid legal ground for the seizure of the allocations.

He further highlighted the crisis facing traditional institutions, noting: “Even traditional rulers in Osun State, led by the Ooni of Ife, have complained about being denied their own five per cent statutory allocation. They say they cannot pay their staff or maintain their offices.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, therefore, called for adherence to legal principles and urged all stakeholders to respect the courts and restore the statutory allocations to the councils, warning that continued political interference is threatening the foundation of Nigeria’s democracy.