Osun APC, Clashes of Assembly for LG Allocation Control

The Osun State Chapter from the Congress of All Progressive (APC) has accused the State Council of the Assembly of exceeding its constitutional mandate by directing banks to limit access to local government funds.

In a statement on Tuesday signed by his spokesman, Kola Olabisi, APC argued that the panel of councils to financial institutions violated the Supreme Court’s decision which confirmed the financial autonomy of local government as the third level of the government.

This controversy follows revelation by the National Chapter of the National Union of Regional Government Employees (Nulge) that the Federal Government has released an allocation that was held six months to an account reportedly opened with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) by the chairman elected by the Court in APC.

In response, the Osun State Council Council on Monday issued a resolution that warned the Bank -Bank not to allow “invalid signing” to access the council funds. The Assembly stated that such efforts “violated the law, were not constitutional, and had no legal effects,” warning that financial institutions that opposed direction would be considered involved in fraud.

Maintaining his actions, the Assembly quoted sections 7 and 88 of the 1999 Constitution, emphasizing that he had the power of supervision of local government finances, as well as the authority to investigate the management of public funds. Further notes that the auditor’s office general for the regional government remains responsible to the Legislative Agency.

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“Therefore it is important to state, firmly, that the Osun State Council Council has acted strictly in its constitutional field in the current effort to protect the financial interests of people in the Osun state,” the assembly said in a statement issued by the Head of the Press Secretary to the speaker, Olamide Tiamiyu.

But APC rejects the position of parliament as “a group of garbage,” insisting that the resolution and the assembly letter do not have legal force. The party argues that the legislature does not have a basis to take over the financial supervision of local government, describing this step as an insult to the Supreme Court’s autonomy decision.

“This is a deviation for the State Assembly Building to try to take over the financial supervision of the local government in any form and with any guise. The spirit of assessment of the autonomy of the Nigerian Supreme Court, which guarantees the financial freedom of the local government, is to make this third government level a government in all its connotations,” APC stated.

Therefore the party asks the Assembly to immediately withdraw its letters to the bank, insisting that only laws, not resolution, bring constitutional weight in the issue of financial supervision.