By Hon. Comrade James Onifade 
…Hon. Comrade James Onifade blasts the legally sacked Osun APC Chairmen
Let’s cut through the legal jargon and political posturing to say what needs to be said plainly: the sacked APC local government chairmen in Osun State have absolutely no business trying to lay claim to council funds they no longer have any legitimate authority over.
An Oyo State High Court made this crystal clear yesterday when Justice Ladiran Akintola dismissed their application seeking to unfreeze local government allocations held at United Bank for Africa. But the real story isn’t just the ruling, it’s the sheer audacity of officials who were removed from office thinking they could waltz into court and demand access to public funds as if those allocations were their personal inheritance.
Let’s Call a spade a spade because these former chairmen were sacked. They are no longer in office. They do not run those local governments. Yet somehow, they believed they had standing to challenge a freezing order on funds that belong to the people of Osun State, not to any political party or its displaced officials.
Justice Akintola didn’t mince words: these men are “strangers to the suit.” And rightfully so. They had earlier withdrawn their application to be joined as parties to the case essentially admitting they had no legal leg to stand on—only to turn around and file another application seeking to overturn the very orders they tacitly acknowledged they had no right to challenge.
This isn’t just bad legal strategy. It’s a revealing glimpse into a mindset that treats public office as personal property and government funds as political spoils.
The former chairmen claimed the freezing order violated the 1999 Constitution and obstructed governance. Let’s be frank: what obstructs governance is having people in positions they shouldn’t occupy, whether through dubious elections, expired mandates, or judicial removal.
The Constitution protects legitimate government, not the pretensions of those clinging to power they’ve lost.
If you’re genuinely concerned about local government functionality, you don’t fight to control funds from outside. You respect the legal process, allow proper authorities to take charge, and step aside with whatever dignity remains.
Why are these sacked officials so desperate to maintain control over these allocations? The court found they have “no legally recognisable interest in the frozen funds.” Translation: this money doesn’t belong to them, never did, and was never meant to.
Local government allocations exist to serve communities, to fix roads, pay workers, provide services, and improve lives. They are not APC funds. They are not PDP funds. They belong to the people, administered by whoever holds legitimate authority at any given time.
When officials who’ve been removed from office fight this hard to access public funds, reasonable people must ask: what exactly were they planning to do with that money? Because if their concern was truly about governance and service delivery, they’d be cooperating with successors, not battling in court.
Justice Akintola saw through the smoke. His ruling was straightforward and correct. The applicants had no standing. Their own actions withdrawing the joinder application proved they knew it. The court wasn’t going to entertain legal acrobatics designed to give discredited politicians continued access to public resources.
This is how the system should work. Courts exist to uphold the law and protect public interest, not to provide backdoor legitimacy to political maneuvering.
Beyond the specific case, this ruling establishes an important principle: you cannot lose power and continue acting as if you still hold it. You cannot be removed from office and then claim ownership or control over the instruments of that office especially public funds.
The fact that senior counsel represented these officials and pursued this case suggests they genuinely believed, or wanted others to believe, that being APC chairmen gave them some perpetual claim to local government money. The court rejected that notion entirely, as it should.
Moving Forward and what should be done
Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, representing the Osun State Attorney General, mentioned obtaining a clearer copy of a recent Supreme Court judgment to guide next steps. That judgment will likely reinforce what yesterday’s ruling already made plain: legitimate authority over local government funds rests with legitimate government, not with politicians nursing grievances about lost positions.
The case returns to court on December 18, 2025. Until then, those funds remain frozen, beyond the reach of those who would claim them without right.
This isn’t complicated. If you don’t hold office, you don’t control the office’s resources. If you’re not in government, you don’t get to govern or spend government money. And if a court has removed you, sacked you, or otherwise determined you shouldn’t be there, you certainly don’t get to fight for continued access to public funds as if you’re entitled to them.
The Oyo State High Court said it plainly yesterday. The sacked APC chairmen have no rights whatsoever to claim ownership of local government allocations. Not legally. Not morally. Not in any way that matters. It’s time they accepted that reality and moved on. The people of Osun State deserve better than watching former officials battle over funds that were never theirs to begin with.