Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has doubled down on the current state of local governments in the state, reaffirming that self-awarded tenure of the APC Chairmen lapsed on October 22, 2025 and could not be elongated under the constitution and precedents set by Supreme Court rulings.
The governor also posited that while he respected local government autonomy, it did not translate to unelected APC chairmen with expired self-awarded tenure hijacking council secretariats and illegally handling public funds in contravention of state laws.
“Local government autonomy is not equal to unjustifiable seizure of local governments funds which are meant to pay local health workers, local teachers and local pensioners. I have been paying these local workers because local autonomy does not mean imposing avoidable hardship on the people,” the governor fired back at the state APC.
In a statement in Osogbo by the spokesperson to the governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, after his state broadcast in which he called out former Governor Gboyega Oyetola on his role in the crisis, Adeleke repeated his earlier assertion that those forcefully occupying the local governments have no mandate or tenure and should vacate the secretariats immediately.
Responding to opposition’s reaction to the broadcast, the governor reiterated that, “The self-awarded tenure which was an illegality in the first place came to an end last year,” questioning under what mandate or authority the APC politicians were holding unto the councils.
“If truly we are in a democracy, unelected people cannot lay claim to local governments and even be tampering with public funds. In a truly practical democracy, you cannot elongate your tenure for a day without being arrested and jailed.
“In a democracy, the police authority will not give cover to unelected people and people with expired self awarded tenure to occupy the councils. The mere fact that these APC officials admitted that their tenure lapsed and had headed to court for elongation is enough for the police to withdraw cover and allow validly elected local government chairmen to assume office.
“If you admitted that your tenure has lapsed, what are you still doing at the local councils? If you had gone to court to seek tenure elongation, why must you still occupy the councils when the case has not even been heard?
“The fact that you file a case does not mean you have your tenure elongated. And your tenure cannot even be elongated because the constitution did not allow it. Osun APC are engaging in severe, criminal breach of the law and the constitution.”
Yinka Kolawole
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