•PDP is confused, members of the public should disregard the claim, says APC spokesperson
THE Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday raised an alarm over an alleged plan by the sacked APC chairmen in the state to illegally pay out almost N13 billion of the state’s local government funds as legal fees.
The party therefore called on the Inspector-General of Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the matter, saying that in a leaked letter trending online, one of the sacked chairmen instructed UBA to pay a law firm (name withheld) 15 percent of the allocation paid into the council’s account last week as legal fees.
PDP chairman in the state, Hon Sunday Bisi, described the directive as illegal, saying that the party even gathered authoritatively that the APC ex-chairmen in all the 30 local government councils gave the same instructions to the bank.
“The total balance in all LG accounts is about N85 billion. Fifteen percent of that amount translates to N12.75 billion which these APC men wanted to pay out as legal fees. Fortunately, the Oyo State High Court order of last Friday stopped them and their scheme,” he disclosed.
He alleged that the ex-council chairmen used non-council staff members as treasurers and co-signatories of the letters.
“There is no officer designated as treasurer in the local government scheme of service across the country. Yet these people used individuals who are not local government staff to fill the nonexistent position of treasurer.
“One of those so used to sign the letter is a non-teaching staff (member) of a private polytechnic in Boluwaduro Local Government Area.
“It is shocking,” the PDP chairman said.
According to him, the letter was written a few days ago, instructing a 15% deduction from the accounts of local governments to be paid to a legal practitioner with a UBA account.
The PDP said the sacked chairmen signed “IR- REVOCABLE LETTERS OF DE- DUCTION in favour of the law firm, which were forwarded to a branch of UBA.”
The said deduction was to commence from February 2025 to September 2025.
“The APC has descended to the lowest level with outright impunity and deliberate trampling on the law and the constitution.
“Despite a court order and a subsisting case before the Supreme Court, the APC is violating all known laws and public finance rules and regulations,” Hon Bisi said.
An Oyo State High Court on Friday granted an injunction restraining UBA from allowing any payment out of the accounts opened by the APC ex-chairmen, into which the CBN paid the local governments’ seized seven-month allocations.
“We call on the Inspector General of Police to open criminal investigations into these letters and their authors. All perpetrators of this illegality must be brought to book,” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, the APC spokesperson, Chief Kola Olabisi, described the claim as falsehood, saying it is far from the truth. He charged members of the public to disregard it.
Olabisi said it is a plot to give APC a bad name in the face of members of the public, and that PDP is confused and does not know the right direction to take any longer.
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