Appeal Court verdict on Osun LG election sparks mixed reactions

• Nothing has changed – Govt

From Lateef Dada, Osogbo

The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Ajibola Basiru, and a chieftain of the party, Dotun Babayemi, have commended the judgment of the Appeal Court, which reinstated the sacked Osun State Local Government Chairmen and Councillors to office.

Basiru, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Tuesday, described the judgment as a triumph of the rule of law and the sanctity of the electoral process. He noted that the judgment re-established the well-enshrined principle that no government, however powerful, can unilaterally and arbitrarily set aside the will of the people and violate the constitution.

He condemned the statement credited to the state Commissioner for Information, Kolapo Alimi, which claimed that the Court of Appeal did not reinstate the duly elected local government chairmen, vice-chairmen, and councillors.

Noting that the council chairmen were wrongly and unlawfully removed by Governor Ademola Adeleke, Basiru said that the deliberate misrepresentation of the court’s judgment is an affront to the rule of law and exposes the Osun State Government as an enabler of illegality.

He, however, advised the Osun State Government to stop all actions intended to impede the course of justice and act with full adherence to the court’s judgment.

Similarly, Dotun Babayemi advised the reinstated local government chairmen in the state to assuage the pains of the people, particularly those at the grassroots, by putting in place measures that would enhance development.

In particular, Babayemi advised that they should ensure the entrenchment of good governance for the benefit of those at the grassroots to improve their living standards, noting that this could be used to drive away the PDP administration in the state led by Senator Ademola Adeleke.

“Our people at the grassroots have been impoverished and are suffering from the maladministration of those currently steering the ship of governance in the state. Your coming back is a sort of intervention to mitigate their long sufferings by leading the pathway with good developmental policies and programs,” Babayemi said.

Meanwhile, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, explained that the court did not reinstate the sacked local government chairmen and their councillors but only dismissed the appeal of the PDP for being predictive.

He maintained that the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case filed by the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which invalidated the election that brought the sacked council chairmen, is still subsisting.

“The appeal APC filed before the Court of Appeal has been accordingly dismissed on the 13th of January 2025. So, there is no way AD could appeal anything about the new judgment. The new judgment only struck out pleadings filed by the PDP. That was all and nothing more.

“I want to confirm to you straight away that the Court of Appeal, Akure, did not go into the merit of the appeal launched by the APC before them. Their finding was just that there was no cause of action as at the time PDP brought the suit against OSSIEC at the Federal High Court, and what the Court of Appeal did was to strike out the originating summons filed by the PDP, and that was all.

“Now, about that judgment of yesterday (Monday), the Court of Appeal never at any point in time made any comment about any chairman being restored back to office,” Bada said.