With less than 24 hours to the Osun State local government election scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2025, a thick cloud of uncertainty still looms over the polls, writes BOLA BAMIGBOLA
Uncertainties trail the conduct of the Osun State local government election, scheduled for Saturday. While the party that produced the government in power, the Peoples Democratic Party insisted that the poll should go ahead as scheduled, the opposition, the All Progressives Congress, insisted that no vacancy currently exists in Osun council areas.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, also advised the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission to halt processes to the election.
The APC, brandishing a judgment it got from the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, in a suit number FHC/OS/CS/94/2022, directed its officials produced in the October 15, 2022, local government election to resume at their duty posts.
The case that fetched APC the victory was an appeal against a judgment of Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of an Osogbo Federal High Court, delivered on November 25, 2022.
The judgment sacked the chairmen and councillors elected in the poll, who had spent barely six weeks into their tenure of three years.
In a unanimous judgment, Justices Isaiah Olufemi Akeju, Abubakar Muazu Lamido and Jane Esienanwan Inyang of the Appeal Court voided the originating summons of the PDP in its matter instituted against the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission before the Osun Federal High Court, Osogbo.
The Court of Appeal panel insisted that the PDP originating summons was presumptive and subsequently allowed the appeal.
Legal issues
With the judgment of February 10, 2022, in the kitty, the APC leadership in the state subsequently directed its members to return to their duty posts.
The immediate past Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, while addressing party faithful who had received him in Osogbo after the judgment, urged security agents to aid smooth return to office of the LG officials.
Speaking further at the meeting attended by the elected chairmen and councillors, Oyetola assured them that they would return to their offices, relying solely on the rule of law.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, who was accompanied at the meeting by the state APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, former Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi, Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Bola Oyebamiji, and others, warned against acts of lawlessness. He also expressed his commitment to supporting all legitimate efforts to reinstate the elected officials.
Commending the judiciary for upholding justice, Oyetola said, “It was a wonderful judgment. I must commend the judiciary for being the hope of the common man.
He added, “We have been in this legal battle since 2022, but we thank God the Court of Appeal has restored the mandate of the chairmen and councillors. APC is a law-abiding party. We appeal to security agencies to do the needful and ensure these officials are given the opportunity to resume.”
Earlier, Lawal praised Oyetola for his continued support of the party in the state and pledged the members’ loyalty to his leadership.
In response, the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, warned the former governor against inciting unrest in the state.
“There is no judgment reinstating APC chairmen to office. Alhaji Oyetola needs to consult his lawyers for a proper briefing. We urge him not to cause trouble in this state because he will be held responsible. We call on the President to caution him as a minister. The local government election scheduled for February 22 will proceed as planned,” Alimi stated.
While the APC leadership in the state was rallying its members to have its chairmen and councillors back in office, the Osun State Government handed down a warning, saying the judgment never returned APC councillors and chairmen to office.
In a statement issued by Alimi, the government admitted that the APC appeal was allowed, but the justices gave no consequential orders.
It also quickly drew attention to another judgment of the Akure Division of the Appeal Court in a suit number CA/AK/226m/2024 filed and won by the All Peoples Party, challenging the notice of election by OSSIEC for the October 15 local government election, which earned the applicant favourable judgment at the Federal High Court.
Alimi further said the appeal that the APC filed against the judgment was dismissed on January 13, 2025, by the Appeal Court, making the Federal High Court judgment subsist.
The statement read, “The APC filed an appeal against the two judgments separately. The appeal number against that of the judgment obtained by the PDP is CA/AK/270/2022 while the appeal number in the judgment obtained by APP is CA/AK/226m/2024.
“On getting to the Court of Appeal, the APC abandoned the appeal in respect of the APP case. The appeal was eventually dismissed on 13th January 2025, making the judgment subsisting and legally binding.
“The APC pursued the appeal against the PDP and the judgment was delivered on 10th February 2025, but struck out on the ground that the case of PDP which was filed at the Federal High Court was premature, having been filed before the actual notice was given.
“To the dismay and surprise of everybody in Osun State, the APC went to town, celebrating that they would take over the various local government councils in the state based on the Court of Appeal judgment which nullified the PDP case for want of jurisdiction.
“The Osun State government under the leadership of His Excellency, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, however, came out to inform them of the subsisting judgment of another Federal High Court which they have abandoned.”
Reacting to the government’s position, ex-Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy, Mr Adebayo Adeleke, referred to pages 50 to 52 of the Akure Appeal Court judgment that contained specific pronouncements of the court regarding the reliefs sought by the APC.
Adeleke, while urging Governor Adeleke to appeal the judgement, said the court’s pronouncement as regards reliefs sought by APC was enforceable.
APC chairmen, councillors’ resumption, PDP resistance
Prior to the last Monday return to the council secretariats by the APC chairmen and councillors, Adeleke had gone to the rooftop of the Oke Fia Government House, lamenting that the security of the state was slipping away from his hands and blamed the situation on his predecessor, Oyetola.
Very early on the day the APC elected officials returned to the council secretariats, fear seized the land, and news of bloody clashes without casualties would later be bellied by social media trending story of a local government chairman in Osun, Aderemi Abass, murdered at the entrance to the Irewole Local Government secretariat by hoodlums.
That would be followed by the news of two people shot dead in Iragbiji in the clash involving APC and PDP hoodlums with scores sustaining gunshot injuries. The state police command later confirmed six people died in the mayhem.
By Wednesday, APC officials had fully resumed and took charge in all council secretariats in the state, except Irewole, as the PDP laid the blame over what it called ‘illegal takeover of councils’ in the state on the Inspector General of Police, Tunji Egbetokun.
Uncertainties over LG poll
Unfazed by the brickbat between the government and the PDP against the APC, the OSSIEC chairman, Mr Hashim Abioye, and his team pressed ahead with their preparations for the poll.
Abioye, who unveiled poll materials before leaders of the Inter-Party Advisory Council on Monday, insisted that the poll would be held as scheduled and called on the people of the state not to entertain fear, but to come out en masse and participate in the exercise.
However, the APC, in a letter announcing its withdrawal from the election, declared it illegal, as no vacancies exist again at the council areas in the state.
The state APC Secretary, Olabisi Kamoru, in its February 17, 2025 letter to OSSIEC, said, “Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/94/2022 was meritoriously nullified on 10th February 2025 by the Appeal Court in Akure in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022 between All Progressives Congress & 3 Ors v. Peoples Democratic Party & Ors and by the judgment, the elected officers have resumed offices as allowed by the appeal court judgment.”
It further read, “The implication of the Appeal Court judgment as cited above is that the local council seats are no longer vacant.
“In view of the foregoing, we hereby state that the All Progressives Congress and all its candidates have, by this letter, informed the commission that we withdraw from the local government elections scheduled for 22nd February 2025, same having become unnecessary, superfluous and unlawful with the development.”
Resource control fuels tussle
While other factors may be at play, the struggle for control over local government funds has been identified as the main driver of the conflict between the APC and PDP in the state.
An ex-special adviser to the governor on education, Jamiu Olawumi, while speaking to journalists on the crises, said LGAs in the state are getting on average N9bn monthly.
Olawumi, who warned against tampering with the funds, assured that the elected APC officials were ready to work with Adeleke to develop grassroots in the state.
Alimi, who disagreed with Olawumi, insisted that the APC officials would have no access to the funds in the local government, describing the directive freezing LGA account by the APC elected officials as “a comedy.”