Local government chairmen and councillors elected on the platforms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set for a showdown as both sides are claiming victory in the Friday ruling of the Court of Appeal, Akure.
The PDP chairmen and councillors said the judgement favoured them and cleared the way for them to resume in their offices at their respective local government council Secretariats on Monday, but those of the APC insisted that the ruling has further reaffirmed their reinstatement and also vowed to remain at their council Secretariats to defend their mandate.
Supporters of both the APC and the PDP chairmen and councillors are threatening a faceoff, and residents are apprehensive of a large-scale crisis in the state on Monday. Though the police command said adequate security operatives were being deployed to prevent breakdown of law and order in the state, the situation is tense on major streets, particularly in the communities near local government council Secretariats.
Residents panic that the faceoff between APC and PDP chairmen and councillors and their supporters might be bloody.
How the crisis started
The APC chairmen and councillors were elected in the tail end of the administration of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, precisely on the 15th of October, 2022, after he lost the governorship election to the candidate of the PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
The validity of that election was challenged at the Federal High Court Osogbo, which nullified the election. Upon the nullification, the governor sent the chairmen and councillors packing while they ran to the Court of Appeal for redress.
On the 10th of February, 2025, the Appeal Court delivered its ruling in favour of the APC chairmen and councillors, but the state government still failed to recognise them. Their attempt to take charge of their respective local government council secretariats led to the death of several people, including the chairman of Irewole Local Government Area, Remi Abass. Yet, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission went ahead with its scheduled local government election to replace the embattled officials in February.
The APC did not participate in the February election, and the PDP won all 30 local government areas. Governor Adeleke swore in the PDP chairmen and councillors, but warned them to stay away from the local government secretariats until the court rules on the matter.
Since then, the PDP chairmen and councillors have not resumed while APC officials stayed in charge of local government secretariats across the state with police protection.
However, on Friday, the Appeal Court gave another ruling on the case, which raises the dust again in the state. The Commissioner for Information in the state, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, said the Friday ruling affirmed the sack of the APC officials.
Alimi said, “The judgement reaffirmed that the local government election conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) in 2022 under the administration of Mr Gboyega Oyetola was unconstitutional, null and void.
According to him, “In the judgement, the Court of Appeal states that the dismissal of Appeal No FHC/ OS/CS/94/2022 on Jan.13, 2025 shows that the judgement of the Federal High Court in suit number FHC/OS/CS//94/2022 which sacked the Osun APC Chairmen and Councillors still subsists and is binding on all those Chairmen and Councillors”.
Alimi said the court made it clear that the APC, which is the appellant, failed to meet the conditions upon which the appeal could be revisited. He said the pronouncement of the court was not ambiguous.
He said the local government election conducted during the administration of Oyetola remains nullified. “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,” Alimi declared.
But APC, in a statement by its Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, said the Friday judgement of the Court of Appeal affirmed the reinstatement of the local government chairmen and councillors elected during the Oyetola administration. Olabisi said, “The Court of Appeal, in its ruling, lays emphasis on the sanctity of the judgment delivered on 10th February, 2025, which reinstated the chairmen and councillors elected on 15th October, 2022. The ruling was in respect of a motion filed to relist an appeal jointly filed and abandoned in respect of a lower court decision delivered on 30th November 2022.”
“There is nothing in the decision of the Court of Appeal of today that affects the decision of the Court of Appeal delivered on 10th February, 2025, which effectively reinstated the APC chairmen and councillors elected on the 15th day of October, 2022. The decision of 10th February, 2025 of the Court of Appeal remains binding and valid, and it is only the Supreme Court that can pronounce or overturn it, but in this instance, there is no appeal against it,” Olabisi said.
Speaking on behalf of the PDP local government chairmen elected in the February 21 Osun Local Government Election, the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Council, Mr. Sarafadeen Awotunde, said the Court of Appeal verdict has put to rest issues surrounding local government election in the state, urging Osun APC and its LGA chairmen to accept their fate.
Reacting on behalf of APC local government chairmen elected in the October 15, 2022, elections, the chairman of Ifedayo Local Government Area, Mr Abiodun Idowu, maintained that the Appeal Court did not return PDP to the council areas in the state.
said, “As legal authority in 30 local governments and area office in the state, we wish to reassure the people of the state that there is no vacancy in local government administration in Osun State and urge the public to ignore the blatant lies and misinformation being circulated by PDP about the Court of Appeal in Akure.”
Call for Tinubu to step in
A chieftain of the APC in the state, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the matter to prevent those planning to cause trouble in the state.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, said that the misinterpretation given to the ruling by PDP and the state government may result in crisis across the 30 local government areas in the state, if not quickly checked.
The APC chieftain said that the crisis is imminent since the elected APC chairmen and councillors would resist any “unlawful invasion” of the secretariat, which they are currently occupying.
Oyintiloye urged Tinubu to deploy adequate security men to the state to prevent a full-blown crisis in the state.
He said that the loss of lives during a similar crisis on February 17 was still fresh in the minds of the residents, adding that such should not be allowed to happen again.
Experts weigh in
A senior lawyer in the state, Barrister Dele Ajibade, said that by the implication of the Friday judgement, the APC chairmen and councillors lost the case.
He explained that the judgment in the case of the APP, in which the court sacked the APC chairmen and councillors, still subsists.
According to Ajibade, “There are two cases and two judgments on the same subject matter. PDP brought one case to the court while APP brought the other case. The High Court sacked the APC chairmen and councillors in the two cases.
“APC ran to the Appeal Court, Akure. Eventually, APC did not pursue the appeal in the case of APP but focused on that of PDP. Then, the appeal against the High Court judgement in the APP case was dismissed for lack of diligent prosecution.
“Later, when APC won the appeal against PDP, the issue of the High Court judgement in the APP matter remains subsisting, which PDP is entitled to benefit from. That was why the APC could not enjoy its victory after winning the appeal against the PDP.
“For APC to enjoy the victory, the party wanted to relist its appeal in the APP case, which the appeal court dismissed earlier because APC abandoned it. Last Friday, the appeal court declined the relisting of that Appeal, which means that the ruling of the high court in the case of APP is still subsisting, and the judgment that sacked the APC chairmen and councillors is still valid “
Also speaking, a political affairs analyst in the state, Waheed Saka, expressed worry about the manner the APC and PDP were interpreting the ruling.
Saka said, “Any of the parties that is not satisfied with the judgement of the Appeal Court should go to the Supreme Court for a final decision. No one should cause another problem in Osun State again.
“The crisis over this matter the last time was unprecedented. We don’t want that again. They should go to the apex court for a final decision and stop twisting the judgement of the appeal court the way they preferred.”
