Find Below The Main Text Of Address Delivered today, 5th January, 2026 by the Chairman of the Secretariat, Ogo-oluwa Area, Osogbo, Osun State in respect of the continued ill-usage of court processes to terrorize the Local Government Councils’ elected officers and the entire people of the State by the Accord/PDP-led State Government.
Protocols Observed.
Introduction
STATE GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY INDUCED LEGAL CRISES OVER OSUN STATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILS TO TERRORIZE THE OPPOSITION: APPEAL TO THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COUNCIL (NJC) TO ACT IN TIME
It is no longer news that on 10th February, 2025, the Court of Appeal nullified the judgment that sacked our elected officers across all the Local Government Councils in Osun State and the judgment was never appealed by the Osun State government. However, the same State Government initially disdainfully refused to accept the verdict claiming there was a lower court judgment in a sister case on the same subject matter. All advice rendered to the State Government to respect the judgment of 10th February, 2025 fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the reinstated chairmen and councillors resumed the councils on 17th February, 2025.
Subsequent to this refusal to obey the tenor of the judgment, there was a coordinated attack on the reinstated chairmen and councillors on the 17th day of February, 2025 which led to the gruesome murder of one of the reinstated chairmen, the late Hon. Remi Abbas of blessed memory. The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Osun State chapter, equally on 16th February, 2025 joined the then Peoples Democratic Party-led State Government and coerced workers at the local government councils across the State to abstain from work without any legal justification save unreasonably that the PDP members ought to be the persons in charge of the Councils and not the elected APC Council leaders.
The Osun State government also staged a ruse/drama on 22nd February, 2025 purportedly parading same as local government elections which was built on a Five-month Notice of Election. The APC has also challenged the legality of that in court and same is still pending.
Aftermath
The State Government commenced multiple lawsuits at different courts against the same subject matter decided by the Court of Appeal. It was very shocking to the whole world when on 21st February, 2025, a judge from Osun State claimed to have interpreted the judgment/ruling of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court judgments after which he directed the Osun State Government to conduct fresh elections on 22nd February, 2025 thus thereby attempted to render the Appeal Court judgment nugatory. The said judge commenced and concluded a whole suit within 48 hours without directing that other persons concerned be joined while feigning ignorance of the appellate court judgment that reinstated the APC chairmen and councillors. The APC members did not storm the streets or cause any violence over this judge’s act rather, the party and the affected persons just filed a suit to set aside the judgment and also did a petition dated 6th March, 2025 to the National Judicial Council (NJC). Receipt of this petition was also acknowledged by the NJC letter dated 12th March, 2025. Having waited for a considerable length of time without any update from the NJC, a reminder was also written. Since then, nothing has been heard over the petition while also the suit to set aside the purported judgment was not given a date till this moment.
The NULGE via one Kehinde Nathaniel Ogungbangbe, in further solidarity with the PDP and while abstaining from work, also instituted a fresh suit urging the court to recognize the PDP candidates as the Chairmen and Councillors of the Local Government Councils. The matter is still pending till date. The PDP-led State Government also filed another suit at the Federal High Court on the same subject matter and in a very disturbing manner procured on 15th May, 2025 an interim order that was later used to restrain release of funds to the reinstated Council officers. The order was in place for several months not minding its effect of crippling governance at the Local Government level. The PDP candidates selected from the purported elections held on 22nd February, 2025 also filed a suit in respect of the same subject matter and it is still pending till date.
Prior to the 10th day of February, 2025, the APC filed an application to relist the appeal struck out in the much-touted sister case and on 13th June, 2025, their Lordships at the Court of Appeal stated that the February 10th judgment that reinstated the Chairmen and Councillors was the same with the subject matter of the sister case therefore, it stands as it could not sit on its judgment of 10th February, 2025. In the language of the Court,
“And the judgment of the Federal High Court, in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/94/2022 which nullified the said election, the 1st Appellant in the aforesaid appeal is the same Appellant/Applicant in the instant application under consideration, I draw attention to this fact in order to show that the 3rd Appellant/Applicant who was pursuing the sister appeal based on the same fact and similar judgment of the same judex-Ayo Emmanuel J, cannot claim ignorance for not compiling the record of appeal or have any credible reason for abandoning the pursuit of this appeal that was dismissed on 13th January, 2025, the sudden attempt to resurrect this appeal into the decision of this court in the sister appeal will only lead to confusion and this court will resist such attempt to lure it to unwittingly sit on appeal or review its decision in Appeal No: CA/AK/270/2022”.
On 29th October, 2025, Hon. Justice Nwite struck out the PDP-led government’s suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja in which the interim injunction was procured. It was then hoped that the belligerent refusal of the State Government to obey and respect the Court of Appeal judgment of 10th February, 2025 had come to an end. Surprisingly, the Osun State Government thereafter hurriedly headed to the Oyo State High Court and procured another round of interim orders on 26th September, 2025 in two separate lawsuits freshly filed in the High Court of Oyo State, Ibadan Judicial Division over the same subject matter of the Local Government Councils in Osun State.
Prior to these filings of the suits at Oyo State, the Osun State Government had also filed a new suit at the Supreme Court over the same subject matter and that was after it had withdrawn the first one it filed at the same Supreme Court. Further bewildered by the judge’s illegal assumption of jurisdiction in Oyo State over Osun State Local Government matter which was also pending at the Supreme Court at the time of filing same at the Oyo State High Court on the same subject matter, the APC did not storm the streets inciting violence but filed necessary processes at the same court and did a petition against the judge which was received by the NJC on 19th November, 2025 but nothing has been heard till date.
More of coincidence than design, on 5th December, 2025, the Supreme Court delivered judgment whereby it struck out the suit filed by the Osun State Government on the same Local Government Councils justifying the decision of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022 which reinstated the APC Chairmen and Councillors on 10th February, 2025. The Supreme Court by the judgment expressly indicated that the Osun State Government (the Plaintiff at the Supreme Court) and its candidates being deceitfully paraded as purported Chairmen and Councillors have no legal basis in that, the Court of Appeal ruling of 13th June, 2025 made no such order.
In the said Supreme Court judgment in Suit No. SC/CV/773/2025, the Supreme Court, per Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, JSC held that,
“As can be seen from the part of the ruling of the Court of Appeal reproduced above, the motion on notice the subject matter of the ruling in Appeal No: CA/AK/15/2025 – was dismissed and there was no consequential declaration or order as claimed by the plaintiff all that the ruling shows is that a decision had been delivered in a “sister appeal (Appeal No: CA/AK/270/2022)” – which is not the decision relied upon by the plaintiff and since nothing has been raised about it, I cannot speculate on its claims, facts and final outcome, if any. It is trite law that a court should refrain from speculating on anything, for speculation is outside the realm of a judicial exercise as it is merely curious guesswork. … What is obvious from the plaintiff suit is that it seeks to indirectly enforce alleged decisions of two lower courts and the beneficiaries of the said decisions or judgments have not been named, identified or specified. For example, in Suit No. FHC/0S/CS/103/2022, the Federal High Court merely made some declarations and granted some orders, which had earlier been reproduced in this judgment. The court proceeded to make some consequential orders, the second of which was an order sacking “All persons or individuals occupying offices in the State Local Governments Councils” by virtue of the local government council election held on 15/10/2022. The court did state the rightful persons or individuals who are to duly occupy “offices in the State Local Government Councils”. It is quite intriguing that the plaintiff was not even a party in the two cases heavily relied upon”.
It is instructive at this moment to humbly get the members of the public notified that the very judgment referred to as CA/AK/270/2022 by the Supreme Court has not been in contest, that is, the case that reinstated the APC Chairmen and Councillors. Also, the Osun State Government surreptitiously premised the whole exercise of the purported election of 22nd February, 2025 on FHC/0S/CS/103/2022 which the Supreme Court found quite intriguing in that the plaintiff was not even a party in the two cases heavily relied upon. This, by implication, has put to rest the nullity of the purported election exercise of 22nd February, 2025.
The Nigeria judiciary, inclusive of the Magistrates and Customary Court, is also most humbly put on notice that the facts as stated above represent the true and correct position of the case of Osun State Local Government Councils currently so that no court is yet again dishonestly moved and misled by any impostor into granting illegal reliefs erroneously. With this, the era of interim orders flying around the Osun State Local Government Councils is believed to have come to a meritorious end. The records are always there for any person who cares for such.
The PDP/Accord Party-led Osun State Government has caused institution of over 10 frivolous lawsuits across different courts and in different States from 18th February, 2025 to December, 2025 all in cantankerous demonstrations of its refusal to obey, respect and be bound by extant court judgments and the rule of law. This conduct can best be described as being disdainful of democratic principles and desperately daring against the sanctity of the Supreme Court judgment of 5th December, 2025.
Similarly, members of the public are further informed that the reinstated Chairmen and Councillors have not filed any case to seek elongation or extension of tenure of their offices. The only suit instituted by these reinstated Chairmen and Councillors is the one seeking the determination of whether the reinstated Chairmen and Councillors are entitled to a tenure of three years commencing from their statutory first sitting as provided by the relevant law of Osun State. And also, whether any valid election could be conducted during the subsistence of tenure of office of the reinstated Chairmen and Councillors? That is all that the reinstated Chairmen and Councillors seek vide Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/147/2025.
Media War
All these facts are concealed while the Osun State Government began to blackmail, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, the police and all other institutions to the effect that funds meant for the local government were withheld. The State Government twists every court judgment to mislead the public and an example of which was when the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court judgment was being used to mislead the public.
Appeal/Public Notification
The NJC is hereby urged to treat the petitions as stated above with dispatch so as to promote people’s interest to be civil and law-abiding in demonstration of their grievances. By the petitions above, all we seek to achieve are to ensure that the sanctity of the rule of law prevails at every point in time thus discouraging people from becoming violent and lawless over any form of grievance.
The entire judiciary of the country is further humbly notified that the judgments in Appeal No: CA/AK/15/2025 and the Supreme Court Suit No. SC/CV/773/2025 have jointly put to rest any purported claim of the Osun State Government over the Local Government Council allocations and subsistence of office of the APC Chairmen and Councillors. This is against the background of the latest self-deceit of the Osun State Government which has returned again to the Federal High Court and the Magistrate Court in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/291/2025 and Charge No. MOS/601C/2025 respectively over the same subject matter already settled by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Appreciation
It must be said at this juncture that we are hugely indebted to all the state institutions particularly, the judiciary, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of the State Security Services, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the irrepressible media having stood by the rules of law and exhibited sound professionalism over the avoidable legal crises created by the desperate State Government. Finally, our foremost appreciation goes to the good people of Osun State in particular and Nigeria in general for promoting the real democratic principles and refusing to be suaded and suppressed by the pettiness, oppression, vindictiveness, deceit, mudslinging and subterfuge which has become the sole hallmark of the State Government’s approach to politics and governance in the last three years in Osun State.
We thank all for the audience.
May the rule of law reign in Osun State.