Osun LG crisis: PDP chairmen drag APC officials to court over secretariat occupation

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In order to resolve the ongoing impasse caused by the local government officials’ occupation of the various council secretariats by the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in 2022, the newly elected and sworn-in local government officials in Osun State have petitioned the Osun State High Court, which is located in Ikirun.

ZINGTIE recounted that on October 15, 2022, the All Progressives Congress, or APC, Oyetola administration, in its final days, held a local government election.

All of the APC candidates won the local government election, which was decided by a Yes/No vote.

A Federal High Court in Osogbo declared the election invalid in November 2022 and dismissed all of the elected council members and chairman.

The APC, the Osun State administration, and the Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, had been at odds over a ruling rendered by the Appeal Court in Akure on Monday, February 10, 2022, before the local government poll.Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

Also, the APC local government chairmen and council members, who claimed victory from the Appellate Court ruling, began occupying all local government secretariats across the state shortly after the Hashim Abioye-led Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, or OSSIEC, announced the results of the February 22, 2025, local government elections in Osun State. These elections produced the elected PDP local government chairmen and council members in the state.

Sensing danger, state governor Ademola Adeleke ordered PDP elected council officials to avoid attending their respective councils to avoid major political upheavals in the state.

Based on this seizure of power and the fact that the act is illegal, the PDP-elected chairmen and council members in Osun State have petitioned the court to have the APC-elected chairmen and council members immediately removed from their positions in the various council secretariats in accordance with the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s legal requirements.

The suit has been joined by the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, and the Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

The court has granted the motion for alternative service, and the matter has been postponed for a further hearing on April 15, 2025.

In addition, ZINGTIE learned that the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Osun State chapter has filed a lawsuit in the Osun State High Court in Ilesa, citing the APC local government chairmen and council members elected during the Oyetola-led administration for their violent invasion and unlawful occupation of the local government secretariats.

It was learned that Osun NULGE made this choice in order to uphold the value of law and order, specifically to protect its members from potential harm that may occur while they are carrying out their official responsibilities as workers of the local government.

The suit’s foundation is the necessity of expelling the APC chairmen and council members because, among other things, their jobs endanger the whole local government workforce covered by NULGE in all of the state’s council secretariats at the moment.

Additionally, the case has been postponed for hearing until April 17, 2025, and substituted service has been given in accordance with this decision.

In the meantime, Governor Ademola Adeleke has asked for calm and restraint by all means, until the APC elected chairmen and council members are removed by the legal system, according to a signed statement from Kolapo Alimi, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment.

The statement reads: “Governor Ademola Adeleke, on behalf of the State Government and good people of Osun State, has again sued for calm and restraint by all means, pending when the usurpers in the various local governments, under the guise of being the chairmen and councillors of the unconstitutionally conducted Yes/No elections, will be sent packing by the Court of Law in all the local governments of the state.”

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