BOOT Party candidate, Prince Adesoji Masilo, has renewed his call for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to step into the Osun State local government crisis. He wants the President to settle who should constitutionally occupy the state’s councils. Moreover, he insists that the tenure of the so-called “Yes/No” chairmen and councillors has ended.
Masilo described his demand as a repeat of his formal position. “Mr President should take action on this matter,” he said. He also urged Tinubu to find out what is delaying the release of the huge monthly allocations to the lawful, duly elected chairmen and councillors.
The candidate also commended Osun Labour for its solidarity with the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE). He backed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) without reservation. “An injury to NULGE is an injury to all, including NLC. So NLC are right in their solidarity,” he said. The NLC began a three-day sympathy strike at midnight on Sunday, 8 November, and workers shut government offices across the state on Monday. The action followed the expiry of a seven-day ultimatum that the union issued to the federal and state governments. Consequently, the strike will run until midnight on Wednesday, 11 November.
The dispute has a long history. The Supreme Court granted financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 local governments in July 2024. However, Osun soon fell into a bitter fight over who controls its 30 councils and who receives their statutory allocations. The controversy dates back to the early months of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration in 2022, so residents have lived with it for years.
Courts have since weighed in. On 15 June 2026, the Federal High Court in Osogbo ruled that the tenure of the reinstated All Progressives Congress (APC) council officers ended in October 2025. Governor Adeleke has repeated that position and says their tenure expired on 22 October 2025 and cannot be extended. After that judgment, the NLC directed NULGE members to secure council secretariats across the state.
The APC sees the matter differently. Its Osun chapter accuses Governor Adeleke of masterminding the NULGE strike and dismisses attempts to blame the President. Furthermore, the party argues that the governor should release council workers to resume duty. Some APC chairmen had also gone to court to seek an extension of their tenure to 2028.
Meanwhile, other voices have joined the call for federal action. The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria in Osun has appealed to Tinubu to intervene urgently. Adeleke has likewise asked the President to call his predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola, to order. Both sides therefore want the same man to act, although they disagree sharply on what he should do.
The money at stake is considerable. Local government allocations nationwide are projected to reach N6.5 trillion in 2026, and Osun’s councils cannot access their share while the dispute drags on. As a result, grassroots projects stall and service delivery suffers. Adeleke says his administration has kept paying council workers’ salaries, yet workers now strike anyway.
Masilo’s intervention adds political weight to a crisis that has already shut offices and split the state’s politicians. His message is simple: the President should find out where the funds are stuck and why. Nevertheless, the courts, the unions and the rival parties will all shape the outcome.
For now, Osun residents wait for answers. They want functioning councils, paid workers and visible development in their communities. The coming days will show whether Abuja responds to the growing pressure, and whether the allocations finally reach the people they were meant to serve.
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