Osun LG crisis: PDP chairmen drag APC officials to court over secretariat occupation

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Osun LG crisis: PDP chairmen drag APC officials to court over secretariat occupation

The newly elected and sworn-in local government officials in Osun State have approached the Osun State High Court sitting in Ikirun on the resolution of the ongoing logjam created by the occupation of the various council secretariats by the local government officials produced by the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in 2022.

DAILY POST recalled that the All Progressives Congress, APC, Oyetola administration, in its twilight, conducted a local government election on October 15, 2022.

The local government election, which was won by all the APC candidates, was conducted by a Yes or No decision.

In November 2022, a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo overturned the election and sacked all the elected chairmen and councillors.

On Monday, February 10, 2022, prior to the local government election, the Appeal Court sitting in Akure delivered a judgment, which had become a subject of disagreement between the APC, the Osun State government, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Also, shortly after the declaration of results of the February 22, 2025, local government elections in Osun State by the Hashim Abioye-led Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, which produced the elected PDP local government chairmen and councillors in the state, the APC local government chairmen and councillors, who claimed victory from the Appellate Court judgment, embarked on an occupation of all the local government secretariats throughout the state.

The state governor, Ademola Adeleke, sensing danger, directed the PDP elected council officials not to go to their various councils in order to prevent the state from being subjected to serious political upheavals.

Anchored on this takeover of the reins of power and premised on the fact that the act constitutes an illegality, the PDP elected chairmen and councillors in Osun State have approached the court of law to get the APC elected chairmen and councillors ejected from the various council secretariats forthwith, in line with the dictates of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Joined in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, the Director-General, Department of State Services, DSS, and the Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

The matter has been adjourned to April 15, 2025, for further hearing, while the court has granted the prayer for substituted service.

DAILY POST also gathered that the Osun State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, has equally instituted a lawsuit in the Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa over the forceful invasion and illegal occupation of the local government secretariats by the APC local government chairmen and councillors elected during the Oyetola-led administration in Osun State.

The decision by Osun NULGE, it was gathered, is in pursuit of the importance of maintaining law and order, particularly aimed at insulating their members from harm, which could arise at any time while performing their official duties as local government employees.

The ground of the suit is premised on the need to get the APC chairmen and councillors ejected, as their occupation, among other factors, constitutes a threat to the entire local government workforce under the umbrella of NULGE in all the council secretariats in the state at the moment.

The matter has equally been adjourned to April 17, 2025, for hearing, with substituted service also granted accordingly.

In the meantime, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, in a signed statement, has said that Governor Ademola Adeleke has called for peace and restraint by all means, pending the time the APC elected chairmen and councillors will be sent packing by the court of law.

The statement reads: “Governor Ademola Adeleke, on behalf of the State Government and good people of Osun State, has again sued for calm and restraint by all means, pending when the usurpers in the various local governments, under the guise of being the chairmen and councillors of the unconstitutionally conducted Yes/No elections, will be sent packing by the Court of Law in all the local governments of the state.”