Osun Assembly Accuses Oyetola, UBA of Diverting N50bn LG Funds, Vows Full Recovery

The Osun State House of Assembly has accused former governor and Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, alongside the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and alleged APC associates, of orchestrating the illegal handling and diversion of local government funds running into over N50 billion.

The Assembly raised the alarm on Sunday during a world press conference in Osogbo, warning that all illegally disbursed funds would be recovered and those involved prosecuted.

Speaking through its principal officers led by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, the House alleged that funds belonging to Osun local governments were paid out to court-sacked APC chairmen and councillors, despite subsisting court judgments nullifying their elections.

According to the Assembly, the alleged illegal disbursements include: N25 million each to the 30 sacked APC local government chairmen, N12 million each to the 30 vice chairmen, 10 million each to the 332 councillors, 130 million each to selected traditional rulers, N13 billion paid as legal fees to a law firm to the sacked officials, representing 15% of the deposited funds.

The lawmakers described the payments as “criminal diversion of public funds” carried out while local government workers allegedly went unpaid for over a year.

The Assembly lamented that despite the alleged disbursement of billions of naira, local government workers reportedly received no salaries for 12 months, including: Primary school teachers
Nurses and healthcare workers
Local government civil servants, Retirees
Traditional rulers not favoured by the APC leadership “Not one naira has been paid as salaries by these illegal chairmen,” the Assembly stated.

Fresh N50bn Allegedly Being Planned
Even more concerning, the House alleged that plans were underway to disburse another N50 billion from local government funds, purportedly disguised as project allocations but allegedly intended for political purposes.

The Assembly warned that it would not tolerate the diversion of funds meant for education, healthcare, salaries, and grassroots development to fund political ambitions in the state.

The House issued a stern warning to UBA Plc, insisting that under Osun State laws, only career local government officials appointed by the Local Government Service Commission are lawful signatories to LG accounts.

“Any bank that releases Local Government funds on the instructions of unauthorised persons acts unlawfully and exposes itself to criminal liability.”

The Assembly declared that all funds already disbursed by UBA on alleged illegal instructions would be treated as a gift to the beneficiaries and must not be deducted from Osun local government accounts.

The lawmakers accused Oyetola of unlawful interference in Osun local government administration, stressing that he has no constitutional or statutory authority to control LG funds or influence banks and security agencies.

The Assembly stated that familial ties to President Bola Tinubu “confer no legal power,” noting that Nigeria is governed by laws, not family relationships.

The House commended Governor Ademola Adeleke for ensuring that local government workers continued to receive salaries over the past year, despite the alleged withholding of LG allocations.