The Advocacy for Good Governance in Nigeria (TAGGIN), Osun State Chapter, a non-partisan civil society organisation committed to accountability, rule of law and people-centred governance, wishes to draw the attention of Osun people, the Nigerian public and the international community to the self-inflicted disaster that the ongoing Local Government crisis has become for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State.
After wide consultations with grassroots communities, market women, artisans, students, pensioners, local government workers and other critical stakeholders across the 30 local government areas, TAGGIN has identified 10 clear and devastating ways the APC’s handling of the LG crisis is systematically destroying the party’s prospects ahead of the next gubernatorial election.
These are not mere political opinions; they reflect the daily anger, frustration and sense of betrayal felt by ordinary Osun citizens.
1. Deliberate distortion of court judgments: Osun people at the grassroots fully understand the 2022 and 2024 court rulings that sacked and re-sacked the APC-imposed council officials. They hold the Osun APC guilty of twisting and lying about these judgments, seeing the party as the architect of the entire crisis.
2. Criminal hijack of LG funds: The people view the conduct of the Osun APC and its collaborators in the illegal opening and custody of local government funds as outright criminal. This brazen violation of the Local Government Finance Laws passed by the Osun State House of Assembly has earned the APC the label of a party that stole money belonging to the third tier of government.
3. Anti-development sabotage: Citizens are shocked and furious that the real motive behind the APC’s criminal handling of LG funds is to cripple Governor Adeleke’s massive infrastructure revolution that is reaching every part of the state without discrimination. The public now sees the APC as a party so anti-people that it would rather manufacture a crisis than allow development to continue.
4. Insensitivity of the “Yes/No” chairmen: The public is outraged that unelected “Yes/No” chairmen are paying themselves and their cronies fat salaries and allowances while legitimate local government workers are left to suffer. This sheer effrontery has deepened public anger against the APC.
5. Sit-tight illegality: The people know that the illegal tenure of these chairmen lapsed on 26th October 2025. Their continued sit-tight attitude, in defiance of the Constitution and the Supreme Court judgment, has turned public animosity against the Osun APC into outright hostility.
6. Illegal levies and extortion: The imposition and collection of levies in markets and parks by these tenure-less officials have further validated the perception of the Osun APC as a lawless, anti-people and corruption-driven party.
7. Arrogant disregard for voters: The audacity of the illegal chairmen to seek tenure extension when they have no tenure in the first place has convinced voters that the Osun APC is dominated by rogue politicians who have zero respect for the electorate.
8. Paralysis of local governance: The forceful occupation of council secretariats has grounded local services. While the state government continues to support health workers, education staff and pensioners, the APC is seen as deliberately strangulating the people and diverting public funds for personal gain.
9. Backfired road grading scam: The recent so-called grading of rural roads by the “Yes/No” chairmen has boomeranged. Citizens describe it as a poorly executed, politicised exercise designed to siphon over N400 million per local government into private pockets. The substandard work has only reinforced public distrust.
10. Audacious plan to bribe the police: The reported intention to use hijacked LG funds already the subject of a court case against UBA to buy vehicles for the police is viewed by the public as the height of impunity. Using proceeds of an alleged crime to “settle” security agencies has left Osun people miffed and convinced that the APC has lost all sense of decency.
TAGGIN declares that these 10 grave infractions have collectively turned the LG crisis into a political suicide mission for the Osun APC. The party’s actions have moved beyond governance failure; they now represent a direct assault on the democratic rights and economic well-being of Osun people.
We therefore call on:
• The Osun APC to immediately stop the illegal occupation of council secretariats, release all LG funds and allow the conduct of credible local government elections in line with the Constitution.
• All well-meaning citizens of Osun to continue holding the APC accountable for this monumental betrayal.
• The judiciary and relevant anti-corruption agencies to ensure that public funds illegally diverted are recovered and those responsible are brought to justice.
The people of Osun have spoken loudly through their daily experiences: No amount of propaganda can erase the damage the APC has done to itself through its handling of the LG crisis. The road to the next gubernatorial election is already littered with the debris of the party’s own greed and lawlessness.
Osun deserves better. Osun is watching.
E-Signed: Comrade James Onifade
National Coordinator, TAGGIN
