TRUE PICTURE OF OSUN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONTROVERSY – ABIOYE NARRATES DISMISSAL OF YES/NO CHAIRMEN
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure today dismissed the attempt of the APC to relist its earlier dismissed appeal against the sack of its Yes /No Chairmen. The dismissal upheld the subisiting judgement of 2022 and clearly validated the election of new council chiefs after a valid court order.
Today’s judgement was a ruling on an application by the state APC. The party while claiming reinstatement on another court ruling deemed it fit to appeal the real judgment which sacked its council chiefs. The appeal failed and the APC lost any claim to the local governments.
According to Hashim Abioye, the Chairman Osun State Independent Electoral Commission OSSIEC, the sack had originated over non-compliance with one year mandatory election notice. The 2022 sack order which was validated today created a vacuum which was filled by the state electoral commission following a local government election. PDP council chairmen and councillors are therefore the validly elected LG bosses today in Osun state.
The reality today is that the argument in support of the reinstatement order from the Akure Appeal Court has crumbled. The appeal court not only upheld the 2022 sack order but also chided the APC for attributing any reinstatement order to it. The Appeal Court rejected ever issuing any reinstatement order.
The forceful takeover of the Secretariat is also now confirmed to be illegal and a clear contempt of court order. In other words, the court has reaffirmed that the occupation of council secretariats by the APC Yes/ No chairmen is an illegality that can even be punishable later.
Consequently, the action of the Attorney General and the Finance Minister to withhold Osun local government funds is illegal as there is no foundation on which to build such a decision. The Yes / No chairmen which the justice minister appears to be favoring and for which reason he seized Osun allocations are now affirmed to be illegal without any legal mandate to govern Osun local governments.
The interpretation is clear that as at today, the court order sacking the Yes No chairmen subsists and the Justice minister and his colleague at the Finance ministry must now lift their hands off Osun LG allocations. The Justice Minister must particularly retrace his steps as today’s ruling proved that the Yes No chairmen are an illegal entity while the authentic chairmen and councilors are those just elected under the PDP banner.
Today’s judgment is a clear call against continuous playing of politics with a purely legal matter. Election is won on the battlefield, not through manipulation and judicial misinterpretation. It is sad that the Chief Law officer of the federation supported a non-existing claim to reinstatement when a valid court order authorizing dissolution still subsists.
But now is the time for redemption on the part of the federal officials. Today’s judgement provides an opportunity for all parties to return to the path of the law and avoid further rubbishing the judiciary.
The validly elected chairmen are now free to resume office. The Yes / No chairmen are better advised to voluntarily quit the various secretariats. If they insist on illegal occupation, the court will descend heavily on them.
For the state government, this is the time to push further on the path of political solution. President Tinubu has followed the Osun matter closely and It is clear Mr President will only support the rule of law for the resolution of the matter.
We therefore encourage the state government to again reach out to the President, the Justice Minister and the Attorney General to finally resolve the matter.
For now, there is no longer any legal ambiguity about the Osun Local government leadership. The sacking of the Yes / No chairmen subsists and the newly elected council chiefs of the PDP are the legal mandate holders over Osun local governments, Hashim Abioye Esq conlcluded.