After an 11-month strike, the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has directed its members to resume duties across local government councils from January 5, 2026.
NULGE embarked on the strike on February 18, 2025, following violent clashes triggered by a leadership tussle between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over control of local government councils in Osun State, which resulted in killings and injuries.
Subsequently, APC-backed executives were reinstated and took over the councils, while the Federal Government released withheld allocations into local government accounts opened by them through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Although several legal disputes between the two parties have been resolved, a suit on tenure elongation filed by APC members remains pending.
In the meantime, PDP council chairmen presented their 2026 budgets to the Osun State House of Assembly, while APC chairmen presented theirs before legislative councils at the local government level.
In a statement signed by the President of NULGE, Kehinde Ogungbangbe, the union directed members to return to work on January 5, 2026, and called for adequate security to be deployed to all councils to ensure the safety of workers.
“As you are aware, our members were directed to withdraw their services due to the volatile security situation arising from the leadership tussle and political rivalry between the PDP and APC over control of local government secretariats in Osun State,” the statement read.
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“To safeguard the lives of our members, we had no option but to vacate the premises. However, after extensive internal deliberations, the union has resolved that members should resume work on Monday, January 5, 2026. We hereby request the deployment of sufficient security personnel to all 30 local government councils, area offices and LCDAs to prevent violence and ensure a safe working environment.”
NULGE also insisted that the APC-reinstated chairmen should acknowledge the expiration of their tenure, noting that they were elected on October 15, 2022, and that their tenure legally ended on October 30, 2025.
“On running of local government, the 30 Local Government councils, Area offices and LCDAs Secretariats can be effectively run, without any Chairmen/Councilors by the Head of Local Administration (HLA), with the Director of Administration & General Services and Director of Finance, serving as the duly recognized signatories to the local government accounts under the Osun State Local Government Accounts Administration Law 2025.
“Our Prayers: In view of our scheduled resumption on 5th January, 2026, we respectfully request the Security Agencies to: Deploy adequate security to the 30 Local Government councils, Area offices and LCDAs Secretariats to prevent intimidation, harassment, or disruption of lawful duties,
“Prevent any further illegal occupation of these secretariats by unauthorized persons to ensure public peace; Ensure that the Security Agencies maintains its neutrality and upholds the rule of law by protecting public servants from self-help tactics.”
He warned that “should there be any breakdown of law and order due to a failure to provide security, this correspondence shall be relied upon as evidence that the Union duly alerted the security agencies to the impending danger.”