Osun

Civil Group Raises Alarm As Osun LGs Remain Shut For 170 Days

BySodiq Yusuf

PublishedAugust 6, 2025

A civil society organisation, Insight Initiative for Community and Social Development (IICSD), has raised the alarm over the continued shutdown of local government areas in Osun State, which has now entered its 170th day today (Wednesday).

The group, in a press statement signed by its Executive Director, Jare Tiamiyu, lamented the crippling of governance at the grassroots level since February 17, 2025, describing the development as a deliberate sabotage of the most crucial tier of government in the state.

According to the statement, the shutdown has denied citizens, especially young people and rural dwellers, access to vital services at council secretariats and other local government offices, with funds meant for community development allegedly seized due to political wrangling.

“The situation has remained purely political, with allocations that should have been channelled into repairing roads, building schools, empowering traders, and employing workers now withheld due to the selfish interests of key political actors,” Tiamiyu stated.

The organisation expressed worry over the rising tension and political back-and-forth surrounding the local government crisis, noting that it had led to several deaths linked to the struggle for power. It warned that the prolonged shutdown posed a serious threat to the future of the state.

Calling for urgent intervention, the group appealed to traditional rulers, religious leaders, elder statesmen, and the Federal Government to prevail on the parties involved to allow governance to return to the grassroots. It insisted that the continuous closure was not only unjustifiable but harmful to development.

“The time to reopen our councils is now. We cannot continue to kill governance at the grassroots of Osun State. This is a tragedy we must not normalise,” the statement read in part.

IICSD further pledged to keep updating a daily counter as a reminder of the days lost to the shutdown, vowing to continue pushing for the restoration of local government operations across the state.

Sodiq Yusuf

Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.