Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke
- APC disagrees, faults Govt’s alleged illegality
Osun State Government has said that contrary to the interpretation in some quarters, the Court of Appeal has not reinstated the council officials it sacked.
Clearing the confusion that trailed the verdict, the Government through the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Jimi Bada, explained its interpretation.
.The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State had on Monday delivered judgement in a matter filed by the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, against an earlier judgement of the High Court over the 2022 local government election.
Both the APC and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had different interpretations of the verdict. While the APC said the Court reinstated the sacked elected council officials, both the PDP and the State Government disagreed saying the appellate court only struck out the PDP’s case.
The Attorney General, addressing reporters in his office in Osogbo on Tuesday, said that the Court never reinstated the sacked council officials in its judgement in the case filed by the APC. He said that where the court nullified the election is the realm that affected all parties.
Bada said, “I want to confirm to you straight away that Court Appeal Akure did not go into the merit of the Appeal launched by the APC before them. Their finding was that there was no cause of action as at the time PDP brought suit against OSSIEC at the Federal High Court. What the Court of Appeal did was to strike out the originating summon filed by the PDP, and that was all.
“Anybody can be interpreting what the court actually said; but the court did not at any point in time held that any sacked local government Chairmen should go back to office. The Court of Appeal did not made that statement yesterday”.
However, APC National Secretary, Dr. Ajibola Basiru in a statement described the Attorney-General’s claim as an affront to the rule of law in Nigeria, saying his position exposed the state government as an enabler of illegality.
His words: “This deliberate misrepresentation of the court’s judgment is an affront to the rule of law and exposes the Osun State Government as an enabler of illegality.
“Ordinarily, it is expected that the lawyer ought to know that there is a presumption of the validity and bindingness of a judgment of the Court until it is set aside.
“The only option open to a party dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal is to challenge it by appeal to the Supreme Court. Neither Alimi nor the Osun State Government can sit on appeal over this judgment. This is elementary law.
“The Court of Appeal judgment considered all grounds of appeal raised in CA/AK/270/2022 against the judgment of the Federal High Court (Justice N. Ayo-Emmanuel), which had nullified the local government elections and ordered the elected officials to vacate office.
“In allowing the appeal, all the reliefs sought by APC were granted, including setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, and ordering the restoration of the sacked local government councils back to office.
“It is with a heart full of gratitude to Almighty Allah for His grace and justice in all affairs that I accept the judgment of the Court of Appeal reinstating the democratically elected local government councils dissolved by the Osun State Government under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) based on the judgment of the Federal High Court.
“This judgment is a triumph of the rule of law and the sanctity of the electoral process as it reestablishes the well-enshrined principle that no government, however powerful, can unilaterally and arbitrarily set aside the will of the people and violate the constitution.
“While I commend the judiciary for upholding justice and ensuring that democracy is protected at all levels of governance, however, I strongly condemn the statement by the Osun State Commissioner for Information, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, which falsely claimed that the Court of Appeal did not reinstate the duly elected local government chairmen, vice-chairmen, and councillors who were unlawfully removed from office by the Adeleke-led Government.”
