From Ismail Omipidan, Abuja
Since February 10 this year when the Appeal Court ruled in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun, things have never remained the same at the Local Government level, with the state government and the council chairmen dishing out counter directives.
The latest being a clash between the state government and the APC over who is responsible for the collection of market rates at the councils, with both parties threatening to arrest each other. Following the decision of the appellate court, the reinstated APC chairmen have been in control of the councils, with the state government refusing to accord them due recognition.
Daily Sun recalls that despite the appellate court’s decision, Governor Ademola Adeleke conducted a Local Government election on February 21, 2025, where the PDP cleared all the available seats in the councils. But observers’ reports indicate that the election did not take place in most of the councils.
Regardless, the council chairmen were sworn in. However, the governor instructed all the PDP chairmen and councillors that were elected during the February 21 poll not to go near the councils. This gave the APC elected chairmen a field day.
While the two parties are still battling over who should get the local government allocation, some of the APC chairmen made moves to collect market levies, but the state government kicked against it.
In a statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, he stated that the governor requested the Osun State Commissioner of Police to stop what the governor referred to as “illegal tax collection” by some APC council chairmen. This is even as he accused the council chairmen of allegedly forging council documents.
According to the statement, the governor wants the police to question those involved in allegedly faking documents, collecting money with fake papers, and charging traders illegally. Specifically, the governor mentioned Boripe Local Government, where the immediate past governor of the state and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, hails from. The governor claimed that the Boripe Council chairman set up a revenue taskforce, which according to him, is against the law.
But in a swift response, the APC informed Governor Adeleke to stop violating the constitution. Like the governor, the Osun APC also asked the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to cause the Osun State Commissioner of Police to investigate the state government’s alleged plan to attack some council officials who are working to maintain law and order in markets. The APC alleged that the state government planned to use fake policemen to carry out the plot.
Kola Olabisi, who speaks for the Osun APC, in a statement said since February 10, when the Appeal Court in Akure brought back APC council officials that were elected in 2022, the state government had used several tricks to stop them from resuming work, and insisted that the current occupiers of the councils were the lawful occupants.
But Governor Adeleke thinks otherwise, saying “The same illegal taskforce officials have begun issuing the fake documents like local government Identification letters, market revenue receipts, etc., to the members of the public.”
The governor also tasked his Special Adviser on Security, Samuel Ojo, to work with the police to carry out his order, saying the APC chairmen were making life harder for people by collecting “illegal revenue and taxes.”
“Is this the reason for illegal occupation of local government secretariats? Is this all about extorting the people and imposing pains and suffering on them? This should stop forthwith. We alert the public to this new round of illegality on a subjudiced matter. I have directed the police authorities accordingly. Forging council documents and collecting revenue illegally are punishable offences under the law. Any person caught in such act will face the full wrath of the law,” the governor added.
But the APC insisted that the governor was being economical with the truth, adding that “by virtue of the Court of Appeal judgment of the 10th of February, 2025, the said chairmen and councilors cannot be said to be performing illegal duties by superintending the markets which fall within the purview of their schedule as allowed by the Constitution.
“One wonders why Governor Adeleke is afraid of approaching the Supreme Court if he is angry that the Court of Appeal backed the elected chairmen to return to their office to exercise the mandate given to them by the electorate in October 2022. The governor should act decently and honourably, rather than knocking his head on the wall, pacing maniacally like a bull in a china shop,” APC added.
While insisting that the constitution does not give the state government authority over market affairs, the Osun APC said “we resolve that the political instability which Governor Adeleke has courted in recent time, and which his faction of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has been conscripted to energize, would be given to him in full dosage if he decides to prevent the recognized, lawfully elected and reinstated local government council chairmen from performing their constitutional duties.”
Daily Sun recalls that when the then Governor Rauf Aregbesola took over in 2010, PDP elected Local Government officials were in place. And in spite of the fact that the Action Congress (AC) had challenged the conduct of the election, the same way the PDP did in 2022, the Aregbesola’s administration that later took over the reign of government in 2010 allowed the case to run its full course.
But in the current situation, the PDP had gone to court by itself and through proxies to challenge the 2022 Local Government election. It got a judgment from a lower court, and APC went to an appellate court to challenge the outcome.
In the appellate court, APC prayed the court to grant the following reliefs: “an Order allowing this appeal, an Order setting aside the ruling delivered by the Lower Court on 15th September, 2022 and dismissing the 1st Respondent’s Motion on Notice to amend dated 29th August, 2022 (but filed on 2nd September, 2022), an Order granting the Appellants’ Motion on Notice to dismiss suit dated 28th October, 2022, an Order setting aside and nullifying the judgment of the lower court delivered on 25th November, 2022, an Order invoking Section 16 of the Court of Appeal Act to determine the suit of the 1st Respondent on the basis of the Originating Summons dated 27th July, 2022, an Order dismissing Suit No: FHC/OS/CS/94/2022, an Order restoring the Appellants back into their offices having been duly elected by the citizens of Osun State, and (any) such further or other Orders as this Honourable Court may make in the circumstances of this appeal.”
And all the reliefs sought, particularly an Order “restoring the Appellants back into their offices having been duly elected by the citizens of Osun State,” were all granted by the Appeal Court. But the state government and the PDP are insisting that there was no declarative judgment reinstating the council chairmen.
Regardless, the die appears cast. And the battle line drawn between the ruling PDP, in Osun and the opposition APC over the soul of the state, ahead of next year’s governorship election. And barring any last-minute change in the Electoral Act, the candidates of the two leading parties, including those of others are expected to emerge before the end of 2025.
Considering the fact that the governorship contest would be the last before the 2027 presidential election, the ruling APC at the centre, analysts say, is unlikely to look away, the way it did in 2022, where the ruling APC in the state was treated as though its party was in opposition at the centre.
Already, with the contest for power at the councils’ level, the two parties appear to have put up what could pass for a dress rehearsal of what to expect in 2026. Although, both parties are still locked in a fierce contest for the soul of the councils, whoever carries the day would no doubt be in a good start for next year’s governorship contest.
From all indications, the PDP is unlikely to change its candidate. It is given that the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke will get the ticket, especially since his major challenger within the party, Prince Dotun Babayemi and his hundreds of supporters have defected to the APC.
For the APC, the coast appears to be getting clearer, following strong indications that the former governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, who was the party’s candidate in 2022 may have anointed the current Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji. Oyebamiji, a former Finance Commissioner in the state, under both Aregbesola and Oyetola, is reputed to be the favourite of most of the party leaders in the state. He is seen as someone who is likely to enjoy the support of the Aregbesola’s camp, if he eventually gets the ticket. Those pushing his candidature believe that majority of the party elders and young elements within the party are in sync with the agitation to give the ticket to him. They reasoned that since the incumbent governor is from Osun West, there would be a balance of contest to have the two major candidates from the area.