₦airaland Forum

TheNiceGuy:
As an Osun indigene, I find the continued withholding of funds meant for our 30 plus-area council local governments completely unacceptable.

According to FAAC records reviewed by The Guardian, approximately ₦216 billion meant for Osun’s 30 local governments was withheld between March 2025 and June 2026. That is over ₦200 billion belonging to grassroots governance being held back while our localities are left struggling to function.

And let us be very clear: this is not merely an argument between President Bola Tinubu and Governor Ademola Adeleke.

The money is not Tinubu's money and it is not Adeleke's money. It belongs to the local governments and, ultimately, to the people they are supposed to serve.

The most damning part is that the Supreme Court itself described the Federal Government's withholding of the funds as a breach of the Constitution and ordered that the allocations be channelled directly to the local governments. The court went further to criticise the Federal Government's position in the contempt proceedings.

So what exactly are we doing?

If the Federal Government has a legitimate dispute over who should administer a local government, take that dispute to court. If there is a question over the legality of a particular council administration, let the judiciary determine it.

I do not give a hoot about Tinubu or Adeleke, but why punish the entire population by withholding money meant for their local governments?

Osun communities did not create the political crisis.
Our market women did not create it.
Our artisans did not create it.
Our farmers did not create it.
Our students did not create it.
Our elderly people did not create it.

Yet ordinary Osun people are the ones who suffer when grassroots government is deprived of resources.

President Tinubu should understand this issue perhaps better than most people.
When he was Governor of Lagos, the Federal Government under Olusegun Obasanjo also withheld local-government allocations amid a political dispute. Tinubu fought that action and challenged the Federal Government in court.

Today, Osun people are entitled to ask:
If withholding local-government money was unacceptable when Lagos was affected, why should it become acceptable when Osun is affected?

Is the Constitution different depending on which political party controls the state?
Is federalism only sacred when your own government is the victim?
Is constitutionalism supposed to protect only Lagos and not Osun?
Mr President, Osun is not a political battlefield. Osun is people's home.

And being Yoruba does not make this any less painful. In fact, it makes the situation more disappointing for those of us who expected a President with strong Yoruba roots and personal experience of federal-state conflicts to understand the danger of using federal power against grassroots governance.

I am not asking President Tinubu to favour Adeleke. I am not asking him to favour Accord, I gave no hoot about them.
I am asking him to favour the Constitution.

If Osun's local-government administration is legally disputed, resolve the dispute through the courts.

If there are legitimate concerns about how funds should be administered, follow the law.

But do not hold the people hostage to a political disagreement.

The Supreme Court has already described the withholding of these funds as unconstitutional.

That should be enough to demand immediate compliance.

What Osun needs is not presidential favour.
Osun needs constitutional justice.

And as an Osun indigene, I will say it plainly:
No political interest is more important than the constitutional rights and welfare of the people.

President Bola Tinubu, release Osun's local-government funds. Let the councils function. Let the people breathe. Let the Constitution prevail.

Theniceguy

Cc
Seun
Nlfpmod
Mynd44

helinues:
Listen to yourself again, Aregbe did it to please Tinubu, isn't that an eye service support? So was I wrong saying Aregbesola didn't support Oyetola first term election?

Stop bothering of uploading any pictures as you might have reached your maximum per day. Wait till tomorrow.

helinues:
Which matter? Between Aregbe and Oyetola, who is more older? Age difference made Aregbe to be lifted before Oyetola even for the fact of the family relationship between Oyetola and Aregbe. President Tinubu was selfness with that decision but we can all see what the Odale Aregbe is using to pay back.

Same Aregbesola that was more like an errand boy to president Tinubu is now shaking his yansh. Hahahaha

helinues:
Your waywardness didn't start about Apc, are you not the person pushing Sharia law across the South West states? Have you forgotten?

Did your wish about that came close to reality? Have you forgotten what we told you about it then?

You have been seeing things awkwardly lately

helinues:
You are capping nonsense. So Aregbesola supported Oyetola first term election? An incumbent supported someone and the person won narrowly.

We don't have short memory here bro

De:
Reno Omokri probably have been mis-informed or maybe doing that for appointment sake. He has no knowledge about *“Baba Halfusa”*

Let’s help him—and anyone else misled by cheap soundbites—understand the truth.

Yes, during the 2015–2016 economic crash, **Osun, like most Nigerian states, faced a fiscal crisis.** But RAUF AREGBESOLA didn’t hide. He took responsibility.

**FACTS:**

* Junior workers (GL 1– were paid **100%**.
* Senior workers and political appointees received **modulated salaries**—a sacrifice **agreed with labour unions**, not imposed.
* **No civil servant was retrenched.**

Now, contrast that with what Reno is defending today:

* Fuel is *₦950/litre*
* Bag of rice is *₦90,000*
* Inflation is above *30%*
* Millions of Nigerians are slipping into poverty every day

Who is really making Nigerians suffer?

While facing economic storms, Aregbesola still:

✅ Fed 254,000 school children daily (UNICEF & DFID praised it)
✅ Rebuilt 3,600 classrooms across Osun
✅ Launched “Agba Osun” – welfare for the elderly where they get paid monthly
✅ Created OYES – studied by the World Bank and adopted as Blue print for Social Investment programmes Nationwide
✅ Left Osun as **lowest in poverty, crime, and 2nd-lowest in unemployment** (Source: NBS & UNDP, 2018)

That’s called governance with heart and results.

Meanwhile, Reno served in a government that:

* Presided over **massive oil theft**
* Watched the **naira collapse**
* Left no single legacy as enduring as any of Aregbesola’s initiatives

The real question is: **Are Nigerians better off now?**

Aregbesola’s record speaks for itself—loudly, clearly, and with facts.

You may not like him, but you can’t rewrite his legacy.

WizardOfNG:
Oga please stop this madness. You are not intelligent enough to be practicing spin and propaganda, using subjective and outrightly deceptive reportage, written by compromised minions, against real experience Nigerians went through.

Is it me who, out of frustration, gave up trying to get a passport under Aregbe, yet got same in two weeks under Tunji-Ojo, you want to use your rudimentary BS spin on?

Do you even know how Tunji-Ojo has revolutionised passport issuance in Nigerian commisions worldwide whereas under Argebe it was always fights, noise and virtually all out war at the Nigerian high commision in london for example?

E-Gates and many other measures nko? All this in under 2 years while wasteman Aregbe only ignobly took cartel 'cash out' operation of the Ministry of interior to a crazy level in 8 years at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.

Guy park well. This is not a joke. Stop the redundant and offensive spin. Sometimes it is classy to remain silent.

WizardOfNG:
How is is it wrong for Wike to highlight what a huge failure Aregbesola was, in 8 years as Interior Minister, in comparison to his successor Tunji-Ojo who had delivered countless solutions in 1 year the unbelievably incompetent Aregbe will never be able to do even if in office for 50 years?

Is it not right to show Nigerians factually that they must never swap unprecedented success with abject failure?

Aregbe and co tout themselves as "saviours". Should their sordid record.and gross failings in public office not be exposed so Nigerians know to avoid them?

Wike's message is timely and spot-on because in politics, same as shopping in the market, it should always be "caveat emptor". Buyers beware. Nigerians should not use their thumbprint to go and buy bad and rotten market for themselves.

helinues:
Founding fathers of Apc? Who was Aregbesola years back? Is it not same Oyetola that president Tinubu always direct Aregbe to go and collect money from whenever he was broke.

Between Aregbesola and Oyetola, considering the relationship, who should have first vye for Osun state governorship?

Didn't Aregbe go against Oyetola first term which he was unable to succeed but got denied in his reelection.

Why should Aregbe be betraying those who picked him from the gutter?

helinues:
Founding fathers of Apc? Who was Aregbesola years back? Is it not same Oyetola that president Tinubu always direct Aregbe to go and collect money from whenever he was broke.

Between Aregbesola and Oyetola, considering the relationship, who should have first vye for Osun state governorship?

Didn't Aregbe go against Oyetola first term which he was unable to succeed but got denied in his reelection.

Why should Aregbe be betraying those who picked him from the gutter?

helinues:
Bro, even if Aregbe decided to make wrong steps, must his support also joined him in making wrong steps .

You can see what people are saying about Aregbe. That's his score card. No amount of rebranding can change a thing

De:
Reno Omokri probably have been mis-informed or maybe doing that for appointment sake. He has no knowledge about *“Baba Halfusa”*

Let’s help him—and anyone else misled by cheap soundbites—understand the truth.

Yes, during the 2015–2016 economic crash, **Osun, like most Nigerian states, faced a fiscal crisis.** But RAUF AREGBESOLA didn’t hide. He took responsibility.

**FACTS:**

* Junior workers (GL 1– were paid **100%**.
* Senior workers and political appointees received **modulated salaries**—a sacrifice **agreed with labour unions**, not imposed.
* **No civil servant was retrenched.**

Now, contrast that with what Reno is defending today:

* Fuel is *₦950/litre*
* Bag of rice is *₦90,000*
* Inflation is above *30%*
* Millions of Nigerians are slipping into poverty every day

Who is really making Nigerians suffer?

While facing economic storms, Aregbesola still:

✅ Fed 254,000 school children daily (UNICEF & DFID praised it)
✅ Rebuilt 3,600 classrooms across Osun
✅ Launched “Agba Osun” – welfare for the elderly where they get paid monthly
✅ Created OYES – studied by the World Bank and adopted as Blue print for Social Investment programmes Nationwide
✅ Left Osun as **lowest in poverty, crime, and 2nd-lowest in unemployment** (Source: NBS & UNDP, 2018)

That’s called governance with heart and results.

Meanwhile, Reno served in a government that:

* Presided over **massive oil theft**
* Watched the **naira collapse**
* Left no single legacy as enduring as any of Aregbesola’s initiatives

The real question is: **Are Nigerians better off now?**

Aregbesola’s record speaks for itself—loudly, clearly, and with facts.

You may not like him, but you can’t rewrite his legacy.

Prigidypogodo:
baby boo
I'm curious
will you follow your mentor Aregbe to ADC?

BTW do you still have feelings for me ?

I sincerely thank our supporters and members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) who came out to receive me on my arrival in Lagos.

The task before us is immense, and I reminded everyone that we do not need to fight, insult, or attack anyone. When others resort to abuse or name-calling, we must rise above it. Instead, ask them one simple question: Are Nigerians better off today than they were before?

Challenge them with facts – on food inflation, the economy, the rising cost of living, and the deepening poverty affecting millions. Let our debates remain focused on the issues that matter. Articulate our position clearly and confidently. Explain why our new political home, the ADC, represents a credible and necessary alternative for Nigeria’s progress and long-term sustainability.

Forward ever. Till victory, always.

H.E Rauf Aregbesola

AMINDA:
All I know is that Tinubu can't have easy in the Southwest in 2027. The guilt tripping will not work. A godfather that cuts all his godsons to size just to prevent them from ever shinning or surpassing him is not progressive by nature.

ADC is waxxing strong in Osun, Lagos and across the Southwest.