DSM Decries Continued Shutdown of Local Government Administration and Withholding of Local Government funds in Osun State

• The continuous closure of local government secretariats shows the anti-people character of the Tinubu/APC and the Adeleke/PDP governments

• We call for the immediate reopening of local government activities; release of withheld local government allocation, and a new, properly-conducted election.

The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) Osun State hereby decries the continued shutdown of the local government system in Osun State. The local government secretariats have been under lock for more than five months running, with no hope in sight for their reopening. The shutdown of the local government administration has affected governance at local level as people cannot access essential services rendered by the local government. The shutdown is sequel to the attempt by the former local government executives under the administration of former governor, Gboyega Oyetola, to return to office.

After Oyetola was defeated in the 2022 gubernatorial election, he rushed to conduct the local government election in a YES OR NO vote. Meanwhile, the state’s electoral laws stipulate a one-year notice. Hence the courts (Federal High Court and Appeal Court) had no problems in setting aside the “Yes or No” illegal local government elections conducted by Oyetola administration, thereby sacking the “Yes or No” executives.

In an attempt to derail the judicial position the attorney general of the federation gave a rogue interpretation to a judgement in a separate case involving APC and PDP, claiming that the Appeal Court had reinstated them. Rather than seek further legal clarification from the court, the APC and the sacked executive, relying on Federal might, took the laws into their own hands, disrupted local government activities, occupied the local government secretariats and hijacked executive functions. In an ensuing clash with PDP members at the secretariats, lives were lost, while the state was thrown into avoidable apprehension. The police and other security agencies took the side of the APC, allowing them to get away with an open crime. Subsequently, the local government secretariats were shut down by the police, while the state trade union leadership of both the NLC and TUC declared an industrial strike across local governments to safeguard lives of workers. The situation has remained the same since, leading to a shutdown of local government system in the state.

The Demola Adeleke/PDP government in Osun State, rather than take bold steps to defend the Osun State people and its local governments by calling out the illegality being sponsored and supported by the Federal Government through the federal attorney general, is preoccupied with declaring support for President Tinubu ahead 2027 elections all in a bid not to rock the boat. We totally condemn the prostration of the Osun State government to the illegal action of the Federal Government and we demand that the state government take proactive measures to defend and protect the interest of the people and the local government administration.

The Federal Government led by President Tinubu/APC has further given life to the brigandage of the APC in Osun State by withholding the local government allocation for four months now. In fact, the Federal Government made attempt to give the local government allocations to the sacked local government executives.

The continued paralysis of the local government administration in Osun State has further shown that the two main ruling parties, the APC and the PDP, are not interested in any democracy or even a pretence to it. They are ready to castrate the local government just to satisfy their pecuniary political interests. The APC is holding the local government system to ransom in order to undermine the Adeleke government in preparation for 2026 elections. On the other hand, the Adeleke government is trying to court President Tinubu and seek his favour towards 2026 gubernatorial election, even if this means sacrificing local government system. The recent rumour of Governor Adeleke’s joining the APC, and the subsequent official statement of the PDP in Osun State, declaring support for Tinubu’s second term, are indicative of a resolve not to rock the boat, even when the Adeleke government has a judicial edge over the APC on the local government matter. Rather than take the Federal Government up legally, the Adeleke government actually withdrew a matter earlier filed at the Supreme Court challenging the continued withholding of local government funds.

It is obvious that the Adeleke government is not prepared to take any serious action to restore the local government administration, while the APC is prepared to wreck the state, inasmuch as it would guarantee them power come 2026. In other words, both parties are prepared to continue to sacrifice the wellbeing of the ordinary people, who need various local government services, and the local government workers on the altar of their self-serving political agenda.

The main reason this shenanigan has continued is because of the absence of a genuine mass party that stands for the genuine interest of the workers, youth, unemployed, artisans, farmers, market sellers, the poor and the oppressed. Such a party with clear socialist programmes would have mobilised the people to defeat both the APC and PDP. It is this kind of party that the DSM and other genuine pro-masses organizations are working towards.

Worse still, the absence of a clear and principled position of the labour movement in the state and nationally has made the two parties to play rotten political game over local government administration. While we agree with the decision of the trade union leaders in the state in declaring a strike in the local government until the issue is resolved, we maintain that unless they mobilise their members to demand immediate restoration of a functional local government system, this strike will amount, in the end, to a support for the Adeleke government. A functional local government system should have duly democratically elected local government executives and legislative system, and financial autonomy, under a direct democratic oversight of the mass of people from various wards and communities in each local government.

Consequently, we in the DSM call for the immediate reopening of local government administration in Osun State, release of all funds withheld by the federal government. We also demand a new, properly-conducted local government election. The local government elections conducted by the Adeleke government have a serious credibility problem. Aside the OSIEC chairman being a personal lawyer to the governor and PDP, the election conducted by OSIEC has no results so far, obviously because it was poorly attended.  It is on this basis that we demand new local government elections which will include democratic involvement of communities in local government administration. We also demand the re-registration of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), which was undemocratically deregistered by INEC, because it poses a potent threat to the ruling parties and their anti-poor policies.

Alfred Adegoke 

State Coordinator

Kola Ibrahim

State Secretary