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A faction of Osun local government workers has declared support for All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, alleging that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration has victimised workers perceived to support the opposition.
The workers, under the Association of Concerned Local Government Workers (ACLGOW), made their position known at a rally in Osun on Thursday, where members carried placards and declared their support for Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO.
Speaking at the event, the association’s State President, Adedayo Adekunle, said the gathering was voluntary and contrasted it with what he described as an earlier attempt to stage a “fake adoption” of Adeleke.
“I would like to tell the whole world that we civil servants are purely and collectively behind AMBO, Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji,” Adekunle said.
Adekunle alleged that workers who supported opposition parties had been sacked by the Adeleke administration, describing the development as evidence that the government did not tolerate dissent.
“Like he said, the opposition of these people here, majority of them, they are sacked, because the current government cannot tolerate opposition. And they live purely on propaganda,” he said.
He contrasted the alleged treatment of opposition supporters under Adeleke with the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, saying some civil servants openly backed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during Oyetola’s tenure but retained their jobs.
“When Oyetola was trying to contest for the second time, we had among our staff who openly declared support for PDP then. Some of them are presently SA here under his government. Oyetola has never sacked anybody,” Adekunle said.
The rally also focused on local government autonomy, with Adekunle praising President Bola Tinubu for supporting greater autonomy for the third tier of government.
“We are local government staffers. We want to give kudos to Bola Ahmed Tinubu for giving us autonomy of local government,” he said.
He argued that greater autonomy would improve development at the grassroots while also improving the welfare of council workers.
The issue of local government autonomy has been a major governance debate in Nigeria.
In July 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of financial autonomy for the country’s 774 local government councils, including an order against the payment of allocations to councils controlled by unelected caretaker committees.
The implementation of the ruling has, however, remained contentious.
The development comes ahead of the August 15 governorship election, in which incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, now running under the Accord Party, is seeking another term against APC candidate Oyebamiji and other contenders.
