By Jackson Noah
Some leaders of the opposition parties in Osun State are currently locked in serious fight over the sharing of a sum of N50million released for them by the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Informed sources said the amount was given to the parties through Osun State Independent Electoral Commission to make them speak in support of the proposed local government elections.
OSSIEC had fixed February 22, 2025 for the next local government election in the state and the opposition parties under the aegies of Inter Party Advisory Council had openly opposed the proposed election.
But suddenly, the group, after saying the OSSIEC chairman was politically top exposed to conduct a free and fair election, made a U-turn and declared readiness to participate at the poll.
On the lastest crisis rocking the opposition parties, OSSIEC had called all the parties participating in the LG poll to a stakeholders’ meeting in Osogbo, where they were told of the plea by the State Government on the parties to urge the Federal Government not to withhold allocation due to the local government areas in the state.
“We were also told to declare support for OSSIEC and passed vote of confidence on the Commission. We all agreed and we were told a sum of N50 million had been released by the governor.
“We did everything the governor wanted us to do and were collected the money. Only representatives of the All Progressives Congress that did not wait or collect money from the governor. What I later discovered was that our leaders were not fair in the sharing of the money.
“Many opposition party leaders are displeased and they are only waiting for the appropriate time to voice their opinion. I must said here that APC representative did not wait or collect any money but others were all paid by the governor.
“Unless our chairman corrects the anomaly observed before the next meeting, there will be a serious crisis. Many people are not happy with the Victor Akande-led Osun IPAC team,” an IPAC member had told this medium.