…State Govt Orders Arrest Trouble Makers
There is controversy over a judgement of the Court of Appeal reinstating the sacked Yes/No Chairmen elected under the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola in Osun State.
A Federal High Court presided over by Justice Nathaniel Emmanuel-Ayoola, declared the October 2022 council election null and void on the ground that it contravened Sections 29 & 32 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
However, the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure on Monday, as seen in various social media posts by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) returned the Chairmen and Councillors sacked by the court.
The post reads, “The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure has reinstated the elected Local Government officials who were previously sacked by Ademola Adeleke, and has ordered their immediate resumption of office.”
It was gathered the legal dispute over the legality of the October 2022 election, and the reinstatement of the sacked chairmen may lead to the suspension of the February 22, 2025, local government election.
According to reports, the reinstatement of the Chairmen would herald their stay in office for 3 years, after which a fresh election will be held.
Reacting to the judgement, the Chairman, Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), Hashim Abioye dismissed reports that the February 22 local government election will be suspended.
He also debunked claims that the appellate court has granted the reinstatement of the sacked local government officials, saying the ex-council chairmen had abandoned the substantive suit which was struck out on January 13, 2025, by the Court of Appeal.
Abioye, who argued that the appeal struck out by the latest judgement was a case filed by the Peoples Democratic Party seeking the nullification of the 2022 election before the OSSIEC Electoral Law (2022) was amended, said the APC had failed to appeal the November 30, 2022, Federal High Court, Osogbo judgement that sacked the officials.
He said, “Today the Court of Appeal struck out the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to challenge the conduct of Osun State local government election in 2022.
“The reasoning of the Appellate Court was that the suit was filed before the Notice of election was issued by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC). It must be noted that it was during the pendency of the said suit before the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo in FHC/OS/CS/94/2022 that the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) Law 2022 was enacted and the notice of election was issued.
“The Claimant in the case amended the originating summons to bring the suit in line with the developments which occurred during the pendency of the suit. The Federal High Court delivered its judgment in the suit on the 25th November, 2022, nullifying the election and sacking the purported elected officials.
“The affected political party All Progressive Congress (APC) and their purported candidates for the election appealed the judgment, and today the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment in the appeal striking out the suit for being speculative. No more to that at the Court of Appeal.
“However, by another judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No.: APP .v. INEC & ORS, the Federal High Court in a judgment delivered on 30th November, 2022 nullified the election and sacked the purported elected officials. The All Progressive Congress (APC), Allied People Movement (APM) and 1 other person appealed the judgment but later abandoned the appeal and same was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on the 13th January, 2025.
“To this effect, there is no order returning any purported elected officials of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to office as there is no Order of any Court reinstating them to office. In particular, there is no Order of any Court stopping the conduct of the election already scheduled by the Commission to hold on 22nd February, 2025.
“In specific terms, the thirty (30) Local Government Areas in Osun State remain vacant till date as there is a substituting decision of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal against the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its purported candidates.
“Towards this end, I urge the public to remain calm and all political parties to go about their peaceful campaigns as we countdown to the D-day, that is 22nd February, 2025. All is set for the election to hold,” Abioye said.
Osun Government Directs Security Operatives to Arrest Trouble Makers
The attention of the Osun State Government has been drawn to the judgement of Court of Appeal, delivered today, Monday, 10th of February, 2025 wherein the originating summons filed by the PDP to challenge the validity of the election held on 15th of October 2022 was dismissed on the ground that the notice of the election had not been published by OSSIEC before the suit was filed.
The simple implication of today’s judgement is that the PDP never filed any case to challenge the validity of that election.
However, there’s another suit filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) against INEC, OSSIEC, APM Babarinde Nurudeen Idowu, APGA, APC and Prince Gboyega Famodun which challenged the validity of the local government election held on the 15th of October,2022.
In its judgement in the Suit No FHC/OS/CS/103/22, the Federal High Court nullified the local govt election conducted by OSSIEC on 15th of Oct.2022 and made the following clear and positive consequential orders:
1. The election into the LG councils across Osun State held on 15th October, 2022 pursuant to notice of election issued on the 15/8/2022 is hereby declared unconstitutional, invalid, null and void for violation of the constitution and breach of sections 28,29,32,98 and 150 of Electoral Act 2022.
2. All persons or individuals occupying offices in the state local government councils by virtue of the said election are accordingly sacked from holding such offices;
3. Sections 25 and 26 of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission Law 2022 having been enacted in contravention of paragraph 12 of the part II, second schedule to the Constitution and being inconsistent with sections 29 and 32 of the Electoral Act 2022 are hereby struck down.
The judgement above, which was delivered by the Federal High Court on 30th day of November 2022 by Hon.Justice N.Ayo Emmanuel of the Osogbo Federal High Court was appealed against with the Appeal No CA/AK/226M/2024. and the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement in the ruling delivered on 13th January, 2025.
Taking the above positions into consideration, the only valid judgement subsisting as at today is the order of the court which nullified the election conducted as enunciated above.
Therefore, we need to inform the entire citizens of Osun State, most especially, the Security Operatives and Heads of Local Government Administrations( HLA’s) to take note of the fact that, there is no judgement restoring the Yes and No Local Government Chairmen back into the various Local Government Councils in Osun State.
Consequently, we urge the security operatives to arrest and prosecute anybody, no matter how highly placed, who may want to disrupt the current peace being enjoyed in our dear state.
We equally, urge all our HLAs to ensure that no intruder or political thug is allowed into the premises of any of our local governments in the state.
Therefore, anybody who makes an attempt to gain entry into any of the council secretariats should be reported to the security agencies.
Finally, we want to use this medium to inform the citizens of Osun State that barring any unforeseen circumstance, the local government election scheduled for 22nd of February 2025 will go on as planned,” Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, Commissioner Information and Public Enlightenment stated.