Osun government reacts to claims of changing LG accounts signatories amid crisis

The Osun State Government, on Wednesday, debunked claims that it was forcing career officers in local governments to change signatories to council accounts amid the ongoing tussle over local government control.

Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement in Osun, Mr. Adewale Adebayo, had alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration was coercing Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to alter council account signatories.

“We reliably gathered that Adeleke’s government has started taking 30 Local Government Area Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to an undisclosed location forcefully. 

“This is unconnected to the contention over who controls the local government.

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“The HLAs and the Directors of Finance were taken to these locations to be pressured into changing signatories of council accounts to the newly elected officials.

“These individuals have been reportedly held against their will, an act that undermines the principles of democracy and the rule of law.

“Despite judicial pronouncements from the Court of Appeal upholding the October 15, 2022, council election, the state government continues to act in a manner that contradicts the spirit of the verdict,” Adebayo alleged.

In a swift reaction, Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, dismissed the allegations as “mere speculation.”

“This is just an attempt to say something because the Commissioner for Local Government has confirmed that he never gave such a directive. 

“They have made themselves look foolish in the eyes of the public, so they want to create a false narrative.

“We have never changed any local government account signatories. They should remain troubled. APM is just crying more than the bereaved,” Alimi stated.