Osun

ALGON, PDP, APC, NULGE At Loggerheads As Osun LG Crisis Persists

ByYusuf Oketola

PublishedJanuary 10, 2026

The last may not have been heard on the crisis rocking the local government tier of government in Osun State as there seems to be no end in sight to the crisis.

The crisis has paralysed activities at the grassroots level for over 11 months, as members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state embarked on sit-at-home due to the battle between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who controls the local governments.

The recent directive by the NULGE President, Dr Nathaniel Ogungbangbe, that local government workers should resume work also introduced a new dimension to the crisis rocking the local government as the workers were restricted by the APC elected local government chairmen in some Local Government Areas.

The development has also led to exchange of words among the PDP, APC and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

While the PDP was in support of the resumption to work of the NULGE members, the APC was not comfortable with NULGE’s position that the Head of Local Government Administration in all the Local Government Areas should take charge of the councils.

The PDP described the act as “strenuous efforts put up by the APC to justify the partisan display of the Nigerian Police as a vindication of its position about a collusion against the people of Osun state.

The PDP in a statement signed by its Chairman, Hon. Sunday Bisi, accused the APC of employing brazen falsehood to sustain its illegal occupation of councils by those already sacked by the courts, warning that the APC desperation and power grab mentality poses grave threats to the sustenance of democracy.

Hon. Bisi maintained that “the idea of reinstatement of APC YES or NO officials was an invention by the party to illegally assume control over the councils and misuse public funds as it is its culture, wondering why the APC has found it difficult to point out the exact area where the order for reinstatement was made by the court in the February 10, 2025 Appeal Court judgement that it has continued to use as the basis for its illegal occupation of councils.

“If anyone is still in doubt, the Osun APC statement should resolve the fact that there is a collusion against the people with the Police as an active accomplice. Otherwise, what would turn a political party into the mouthpiece of an institution as important as the Nigerian Police Force, except that the Osun APC see the need to stand up for its partner in illegality,” Hon. Bisi noted in a statement.

“Contrary to the recycled lies by the APC, no court ordered the reinstatement of the YES or NO officials. Even the February 10, 2025 judgement of the Court of Appeal it usually pushed as the basis for the illegal occupation of the councils, did not in any part make the pronouncement the APC keep flaunting. If the APC believes otherwise, we challenge them to point out the section of the judgement that categorically ordered the reinstatement of the court-sacked YES or NO officials for the entire world to see.”

But, the APC accused the state government of deliberately inducing legal crises to undermine elected local council officials.

The APC Chairman in the state, Tajudeen Lawal, said the controversy stemmed from a February 10, 2025, Court of Appeal judgment, which nullified an earlier decision that had removed APC elected chairmen and councillors across the state.

Lawal, who stated that the court judgment was never appealed by the state government, yet it was allegedly ignored, added that the reinstated chairmen and councillors resumed duties on February 17, 2025, in line with the ruling.

He alleged that “the refusal to accept the judgment led to coordinated attacks on reinstated council officials on the same day, during which the then Chairman of Irewole Local Council, Remi Abbas, was killed.”

In another development, the state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) comprising of chairmen elected on the platform of the PDP raised the alarm over the alleged bias of the police in the imbroglio affecting the local governments in the state.

The association also chastised the police for being diversionary on its initial stand as regards the resumption to work of local government workers in the state under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

Hon Sarafadeen Abiodun Awotunde who leads the group alleged that the police were seriously bias in the way and manner the local government crisis in the state was handled.

To this end, , Awotunde challenged the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun to investigate the activities of men of the Osun State Police command regarding the local government crisis in the state.

He queried the rationale behind the presence of the APC Chairmen and councillors at the local government secretariats in violation to the directive of the Police authorities.

“Some people are acting as if they are bigger than the laws of the land, just because they’re in power at the federal level and unfortunately they are enjoying the backing of the police. This is a democratic society and all kinds of lawlessness should be discouraged by the police,”Hon Awotunde said.

But the chairman of ALGON comprising the chairmen of the APC, Hon Idowu Abiodun said the APC chairmen will not for any reason vacate the local government secretariats, saying that the chairmen had approached the court for tenure extension.

He said the tenure of the APC chairmen commenced the day judgment was delivered in their favour by the Akure division of the Court of Appeal.

Yusuf Oketola

Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.