The Osun State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of colluding with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to illegally open and operate bank accounts in the names of local governments across the state.
Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo on Thursday, ALGON chairman, Hon. Sarafadeen Awotunde, said the plot was uncovered after APC governorship aspirant and party counsel, Kunle Adegoke, openly admitted on a live broadcast of the ARISE TV Morning Show on August 28, 2025, that the accounts existed with APC loyalists listed as signatories instead of legitimate civil servants. Awotunde described the development as “a brazen illegality” aimed at diverting Osun people’s money into private and political pockets.
He stressed that by law, only statutory civil servants—including Heads of Local Government Administration, Directors of Administration, and Directors of Finance—are empowered to sign council cheques. “Throughout the democratic world, politicians do not sign government cheques,” Awotunde noted. He also argued that the APC council chairmen lacked legitimacy, pointing to rulings by the Federal High Court in November 2022 and the Court of Appeal in June 2025, both of which nullified their elections.
Awotunde further alleged that officials of the CBN’s Osogbo branch had turned away genuine civil servants who attempted to open local government accounts, while granting APC members access as signatories. He called the development a violation of court judgments, banking regulations, and constitutional provisions on public accounts, insisting that it posed a direct threat to the welfare of Osun citizens.
To strengthen its claims, ALGON presented certified documents, including regulations on statutory signatories, valid certificates of return issued to its leaders in February 2025, and copies of court judgments that affirmed their legitimacy. The association also questioned why Osun appeared to be singled out, noting that local governments in the other 35 states continued to receive their monthly allocations through the state–local government joint account system as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution.
ALGON therefore demanded that the CBN leadership immediately probe its Osogbo branch officials and called on Kunle Adegoke to substantiate his televised remarks. “We assure the people of Osun State that ALGON will not relent in defending the mandate freely given to us and in protecting the collective patrimony of our local governments. Justice must prevail,” Awotunde declared.
In response, APC spokesperson in Osun, Kola Olabisi, dismissed ALGON’s position, describing the PDP-backed chairmen as impostors. He maintained that a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on February 10, 2025, had reinstated APC local government chairmen and councillors, thereby making them the only legally recognized executives. He added that Abiodun Idowu remained the duly acknowledged ALGON chairman in Osun State, as recognized by the body’s national headquarters in Abuja.
Olabisi urged the public to disregard what he called false claims by the PDP chairmen, arguing that they lacked legitimacy and were impersonating local government officials.
