LG crisis: Osun APC accuses Gov Adeleke of executive rascality

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The governor of the state, Ademola Adeleke, has been charged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Osun State chapter of executive rascality in an attempt to overturn a Court of Appeal ruling that reinstated the local government chairmen and council members.

During a press conference held on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the Ileri-Oluwa Campaign Office in Osogbo, former Information Commissioner Sunday Akere said the state government was obstructing the ruling’s execution by compromising judicial procedures and utilizing non-state actors.

He said, “The last two months in the state have been characterised by executive recklessness and judicial abuse to undermine the Court of Appeal judgement delivered on 10 February.”

In a speech on February 16, 2025, Governor Adeleke allegedly incited violence by saying he could not ensure the protection of the APC chairmen who had been reinstated. This, according to Akere, sparked attacks that killed seven people, including Remi Abbas.

The APC claimed that the government had financially pressured the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, or NULGE, to stop providing services at council secretariats, so depriving residents in all 30 councils and the Modakeke Area Office of vital services.

“The Adeleke administration has turned its back on the rule of law, resorting instead to coercion and manipulation.”

By removing commissioning plaques put in place by the previous administration and replacing them with new ones that contain Adeleke’s name, he accused the government of vandalizing basic health institutions.

On April 17, the APC issued a warning about a purported attempt to get a mandamus ruling from an Osun State High Court in Ikirun to support what they described as “illegally-selected PDP chairmen” in retaking council secretariats forcefully.

Akere claimed that the state administration was planning an incident in which thugs wearing Amotekun Corps uniforms would attack while claiming to be carrying out a court order.

“This planned attack will be used to forcibly eject our chairmen, despite a binding ruling of the Court of Appeal,” he said.

He also brought up a comparable court action in Ilesa that purportedly sought to use what he called “kangaroo judgments” to validate the PDP’s claim to the local governments.

The APC petitioned the National Judicial Council over what it called judicial rascality and accused the courts of bias, citing other decisions it said were not authored in courtrooms.

“We are monitoring the situation and will submit further petitions should any judicial abuse occur.”

He warned that granting injunctions for the black market could destabilize the state and urged the judiciary to oppose attempts to be exploited as political tools.

“It is a basic legal principle that a lower court cannot override a higher court’s ruling, especially that of the Court of Appeal.”

The party urged Governor Adeleke to seek redress at the Supreme Court if she was unhappy with the Appeal Court’s ruling rather than creating a crisis and urged the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), and the National Security Adviser (NSA) to look into and stop what it described as a coordinated plan to cause chaos.

“The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. If it is compromised, our democracy is in serious danger,” warned Akere.

Any effort to remove its chairmen by force could result in constitutional and security collapses throughout the state, the APC warned.

Akere concluded, “The people of Osun State must be protected from lawlessness. The governor must not be allowed to hijack the judiciary or security architecture for political purposes.”

Olawale Rasheed, a spokesman for Governor Adeleke, called the APC’s accusations “blackmail,” adding that the governor had not taken legal action and had counseled elected PDP chairmen to keep the peace.

Additionally, he charged that the Osun APC had sounded a false alarm.

“The APC is attempting to escape the legal consequences of their unconstitutional occupation of local government offices,” Rasheed said in a statement.

“Additionally, the state APC is lying about an open secret that it faces three lawsuits over its invasion of the local government secretariats namely; the first by the duly elected local government chairmen and councillors of PDP under ALGON, the second by the state local government workers under NULGE and the third by the All Peoples Party (APP) which sued the APC for contempt of Court for ignoring a subsisting court judgement that sacked its Yes/No chairmen.

“In all these cases, Governor Ademola Adeleke did not and has no intention of instituting any court action after his directive to PDP elected chairmen and councilors to abide by the rule of law and avoid violence.

“The APC alarm of plots to deploy violence against the illegal court-sacked Yes/No chairmen is mere fantasy and failed attempt to escape the legal consequences of their unconstitutional and reprehensible occupation of local governments secretariats across Osun State.

“The validly elected council chairmen, vice Chairmen and councillors filed very potent lawsuits to flush out Yes/No council chairmen who are on a campaign of self help rather than rule of law.

“The workers union at the local government level, NULGE, as an interested stakeholder has also resorted to the judicial system.”

He demanded that the state governor be excluded from the APC’s “self-imposed and self-inflicted moral, legal, and political injuries” and that the party confront its legal battle.

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