Alli Alleges Oyo LG Paralysis, Government Demands Proof

A fresh political dispute over local government administration has opened in Oyo State after the campaign organisation of APC governorship candidate Senator Sharafadeen Alli accused Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration of paralysing the state’s 33 local government areas.

The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Saturday, September 26, 2026, by Bisi Oladele, Director of Media and Publicity of the Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation.

The campaign described Makinde’s seven-year administration as hostile to the third tier of government and alleged that the 33 councils had been paralysed.

What exactly is being alleged?

The campaign did not simply criticise a particular abandoned project. It made a broader political claim that the local governments themselves had been rendered ineffective under Makinde.

The statement also linked the allegation to the wider debate over Makinde’s reported presidential ambition, arguing that someone seeking to lead Nigeria should first demonstrate effective grassroots governance in his home state.

That is the campaign’s political argument.

It is not, by itself, proof that all 33 local governments are dysfunctional.

Government asks for specifics

The Oyo State Government rejected the allegation and challenged the Alli campaign to identify the local governments, functions and projects it considered paralysed or abandoned.

Commissioner for Information Dotun Oyelade pointed to projects carried out through the state government, including road projects around Eruwa, Lanlate, Maya, Igbole, Omi-Adio, Ido, Akobo, Olorunda Abaa, Olodo Garage, Kasumu and Ajia.

The government’s response is significant because it shifts the argument from political description to measurable evidence.

If a campaign says 33 local governments have been “paralysed”, the relevant questions are straightforward: Which councils? Which statutory functions stopped? Which projects were abandoned? What evidence demonstrates the paralysis?

The history behind the argument

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The controversy also has a longer history. Makinde’s first administration became embroiled in a legal dispute over the dissolution of elected local government officials shortly after he assumed office in 2019.

The dispute eventually went through the courts, while caretaker arrangements were used during parts of the period.

Oyo later conducted local government elections, with the PDP winning all chairmanship positions in the 2024 exercise.

Contemporary reporting recorded both the government’s defence of the process and opposition complaints about its conduct.

That history gives the current accusation some institutional context, but it does not establish the campaign’s present claim that all 33 councils are currently paralysed.

What can be established?

At this stage, the safest description is that Alli’s campaign has made the allegation and the state government has rejected it and demanded evidence.

Whether individual local governments have problems with funding, staffing, infrastructure or administrative capacity is a separate question requiring council-by-council evidence.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the dispute is therefore less about the word “paralysed” than about whether the competing sides can produce evidence to define and substantiate the condition of Oyo’s 33 local governments.