How Tinubu Ignored Governor Adeleke’s Pleas For Release Of Withheld Osun Local Council Funds, Questioned Sacking Of Chairmen

President Bola Tinubu has shunned the pleas of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, for the release of withheld local government allocations, top sources with knowledge of the state government’s efforts have told SaharaReporters.

It would be recalled that in June, Adeleke visited Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa. Sources told SaharaReporters that one of the discussions they had centred on the withheld local government allocations.

Sources said President Tinubu, during Governor Adeleke’s visit to Aso Rock, remarked that he was aware the governor had ordered the removal of the local government chairmen.

The comment came after Adeleke raised concerns over the suspension of LG funds to Osun State. The governor, however, was said to have attempted to refute the claim.

After the visit, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state and Adeleke endorsed Tinubu in July, declaring support for Tinubu’s reelection in 2027.

This has not in any way made the Presidency reach out to the Osun State government or pay attention to the Adeleke government’s plea for the release of the local government allocations.

Top sources familiar with the development stated that no one from the Presidency has reached out to the state government.

“No one has contacted Osun State government. The Presidency has reached out to the government despite all the pleas for the release of the funds,” a top government source told SaharaReporters.

Another source told this newspaper that the government has submitted a copy of a recent court ruling to the Nigerian government, but nothing has changed.

“Even a copy of a recent court judgement we shared did not change their mind,” the source told SaharaReporters.

An earlier review by SaharaReporters of a document from the Office of the Accountant General revealed that ₦46.9 billion in funds had yet to be released to the state government.

In March, the state was supposed to receive ₦11.9 billion; the expected amount for April was ₦11.2 billion, ₦11.7 billion for May, and ₦12.1 billion for June.

On August 11, SaharaReporters reported that the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed allegations by the state government that President Tinubu was withholding allocations meant for the state’s local government councils.

In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the APC described the claim made earlier by the Commissioner for Information as “misinformation” aimed at misleading the public.

The APC accused Governor Adeleke of being behind the six-month-old strike by the state chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which it described as “partisan” and in solidarity with the state government.

The party further alleged that Adeleke’s administration owed local councils ₦84 billion, representing funds it claimed were “illegally withdrawn” in contravention of a July 2024 Supreme Court ruling that granted financial autonomy to local governments.

The Adeleke-led government has, however, continued to insist that it was within its right to conduct a local government election in February 2025.

In June, SaharaReporters reported that the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, dismissed the appeal filed by the APC, affirming the legitimacy of the February 2025 local government elections in Osun State.

The judgment, delivered on Friday, June 13, 2025, upheld the victory of the PDP and its elected chairmen and councillors.

The panel of justices — Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye, Peter Chudi Obiorah, and Hadiza Rabiu Shagari — held that the appeal lacked merit, had been overtaken by events, and constituted a mere academic exercise.

The suit, numbered CA/AK/15/2025, was filed by the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Babatunde Nurudeen Idowu, and the APC against the Action Peoples Party (APP), INEC, OSSIEC, APGA, and Prince Adegboye Famodun.