Osun LG Commissioner Sends Strong Message to CBN, AGF, Warns Against Paying Allocation to Private Account

● Says It is unconstitutional, a Violation of Public Finance Law

Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Dosu Babatunde has sent a strong message to the Central Bank of Nigeria and Accountant General of the Federation warning the duo against the payment of Local Government allocations into private account.

Stating this in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Osun state capital on Wednesday, Babatunde noted that the state government had sent a letter to CBN which was subsequently rejected raising a suspicion that CBN have concluded plans to pay Osun LG allocations to private accounts.

He added that any money paid into private account of any individual will never be Osun State Local Government money adding that legal action will be taken if such happens.

The statement reads, “The attention of Osun State Government has been drawn to a conspiracy currently being illegally hatched between the offices of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and that of the Accountant General of the Federation on the issue of allocations to Local Governments in Osun state as the planned action is deliberately aimed at thwarting the cases already filed at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

“Available information at our disposal, as a government indicates that, the offices of The Accountant General of the Federation and Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) have concluded plans to pay Osun LG allocations to private accounts of some impostors.

“As a government, we are of the strong contention that this is quite sad, unfortunate and unconstitutional for these two Federal Government Agencies to conclude plans to pay Governments money into private accounts. This will amount to an open violation of public finance regulations.

“When Osun State Government first heard about this plan, it quickly took a step through the office of the the Auditor General for Local Governments in the State by sending a letter to the CBN introducing the accounting officers of each of the 30 local Governments to them such as the Heads of Local Government Administrations(H.L.A) and Director of Finance.

“However, to our great consternation and dismay, the CBN Osogbo office rejected the list with strong suspicion that it planned to pay the allocation of Osun Local Governments to private accounts of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s men who submitted their names without the input of the accounting officers of all the LGs in Osun State.

“To this end and with all sense of responsibility, we wish to draw the attention of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to this constitutional shenanigans, because, we are of the conviction and belief that, this unlawful act is being done without the consent and knowledge of Mr President as well as the Honourable Minister of Finance.

“We wish to further add and warn that, any money paid into private account of any individual is not and will never be Osun State Local Government money, and the consequence for this will be very severe as Osun State Government will not spare any action in line with the dictates of the law in order to redress such anomaly.

“Finally, we are using this medium to appeal to Mr President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to intervene before some people for their own self centered reasons subvert the rule of law to unconstitutionally tamper with people’s money in Osun State.”