Court orders OSSIEC to proceed on LG election

…As APP frowns at AGF comment

The Osun State High Court in Ilesa has ordered the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) to proceed with local government elections for chairmen and councillors in all 30 local government areas and the area office in the State.

The court order which was delivered by Justice A.Aderibigbe declared that thereares existing vacancies across all the 30 local governments in the state.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the claimant in the suit brought before the State High Court.

Oluwole Jimi Bada, the state Attorney General andCommissionerr for Justice while presenting the outcome of the court order to newsmen on Friday in Osogbo, said, “The order granted, directing, mandating and compelling the defendants to fill the vacancies across the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State through a democratic process by proceeding to conduct the Local Government election already scheduled by the defendants for 22nd of February, 2025.

“The court found as a fact, that the election conducted by the 1st Defendant on 15th October 2022, having been invalidated, nullified and voided, and the purported elected officials produced by the purported election having been sacked by the Federal High Court in FHC/CS/OS/103/2022; ACTION PEOPLES PARTY (APP) VS. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) & Ors, delivered on the 30th November 2022 and as confirmed by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No: CA/AK/226M/2024; ALLIED PEOPLE MOVEMENT (APM) & Ors VS. ACTION PEOLES PARTY (APP) & ORS delivered on the 13th January, 025, vacancy acts in the political administration of local councils in the State,  thereby, consequently upholding the prayers of the PDP in the suit.

“The court further directed and compelled all the security agencies, comprising of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Amotekun Corps, the Vigilante group etc in the state to provide adequate security, during and after the election.”

The commissioner for Justice enjoined the residents of the state to go out tomorrow to cast their votes for the political party of their choice.

He said, “I want to enjoin the people of Osun State to comply with the order of the court by going out tomorrow to cast their vote for the political party of their choice.”

It would be recalled that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has advised the Osun State Government not to proceed with its planned Local Government election scheduled for February 22.

Fagbemi argued that “any such election, that may be held, will not only be invalid since the term of office of the elected officials just restored by the judgement of the Court of Appeal will still be running until October 2025, it will also amount to an egregious breach of the Constitution which Governor Adeleke has sworn to uphold.”

Meanwhile, the Action Peoples Party (APP), Osun. The state has described it as an unsavoury and fatally biased communication statement credited to the Attorney General of the Federation Mr Lateef Fagbemi.

Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo, Odesola Oluseye Títus, the state chairman of the party, said “For us in the APP, a partner in the democratic trajectory in Nigeria and particularly, Osun State,  we found it ludicrous to believe that such a naked biased memo would come from the AGF, Fagbemi, knowing fully well that there is a valid judgement of the same court of appeal affirming the nullification of the October 15, 2022 local government election in Osun State.

Titus stressed that “it was ridiculous to say the least that a law officer of the Federation, would deliberately feign ignorance of a subsisting judgement of the court of the land by cherry-picking the side of another judgement he deemed suitable for his tailored narrative.

“In a sane clime, An Attorney General of the Federation should be abreast of the minutest of court pronouncements in the Federation and should be addressed holistically if and when the need arises.  This the AGF has failed and it is appalling in the mildest of expression”

“As active participant in both the Colapsed October 15 2022 and the February 22, 2025, and after due consultations with our legal department and members of our party, we are left with no doubt that the scheduled local government election slated for February 22, 2025, should proceed. ”

“The Attorney General of the Federation is not a bigger entity than the courts in Nigeria.  He is advised to test his opinion in the court of law according to the constitution of Nigeria which established the office of the Attorney General, which is world apart to constitutional courts.”

He however reiterated that the party will participate in Saturday’s election, calling on the citizens of the State to come out by voting enmass for  the APP tomorrow.