The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the freezing of local government allocations to Osun State, alleging that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)’s “win-at-all-cost” strategy for the state’s governorship election poses a direct threat to democracy.
While describing the situation in Osun as “political terrorism,” the ADC accused the Federal Government of weaponizing state institutions to punish the people of the state.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC noted that withholding funds was part of a broader strategy of intimidation. According to the party, this strategy includes “the continued occupation of local councils by unelected APC loyalists, the arrest of opposition figures, the deployment of armed political thugs allegedly backed by security agencies, and the orchestrated destabilisation of the state using federal institutions.”
The ADC added that freezing the statutory allocations due to the local governments in Osun is neither a standard administrative decision nor a routine legal dispute.
“It is political terrorism by the Bola Tinubu-led APC government, carried out with the instruments of the Nigerian state to achieve the singular objective of undermining the state government ahead of the upcoming governorship election,” the statement read.
“This sinister move confirms that the Tinubu-led Federal Government will do anything, including starving the people of Osun State, to achieve its political objectives. Yet no democracy worthy of the name deliberately sacrifices the welfare of innocent citizens in pursuit of partisan political ends.”
The ADC further highlighted that workers’ salaries, primary healthcare operations, children’s education, rural infrastructure, and other essential public services have all been reduced to bargaining chips in a political contest.
Abdullahi stated: “We have noted earlier that President Bola Tinubu’s mentality, which regards political contests as warfare, constitutes a serious threat to democratic engagement. But even in war, there are rules of engagement that recognise human dignity and place limits on the conduct of adversaries.
“Democracies are expected to hold themselves to an even higher standard. What justification can there possibly be for the barbarity now playing out in Osun State, where one man has declared war on his own people?
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