By Sodeek Atanda
On Sunday, Governor Ademola Adeleke accused former governor Gboyega Oyetola of hatching a major security plan to cause mayhem in Osun State and return the 2022 court-sacked local government chairmen to office on Monday.
Adeleke said that Oyetola was giving illegal directives to security operatives in the state because he is President Bola Tinubu’s nephew.
On February 10, the Akure division of the Court of Appeal dismissed a case filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disputing the election of October 15, 2022, which produced the chairmen and councillors in all the local government areas (LGAs) and local council development areas (LCDAs).
The PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the affected chairmen’s political party, have been locked in a war of words, with both sides interpreting the judgment differently. The APC believes the dismissal of the PDP’s application meant the return of its party members while the PDP argues that the chairmen remain sacked per a subsisting judgment of court obtained by the All Peoples Party (APP).
In his speech on Sunday, Adeleke said he had no hand in the chairmen’s sack and claimed that they had been sacked before he assumed office.
Adeleke said the court had sacked the chairmen before he was sworn in.
In his speech posted on his X handle on Sunday, Adeleke wrote, “Let me make it clear that the said council chairmen were sacked before I was sworn in as governor of Osun State, contrary to the lies being peddled, that the Chairmen and councillors were sacked by my executive order.”
“For emphasis, l want to state that I had nothing to do with the sacking of the chairmen and councillors produced by the Osun 2022 local government polls. The chairmen and councillors were sacked by two different judgments of the Federal High Court, Osogbo.”
Adeleke won the Osun governorship election of July 16, 2022, and he was sworn in on November 27 of the same year.
Adeleke mentioned two distinct judgments in his address, which he said had sacked the council chairmen and councillors before he took over power from Oyetola.
The first judgment was delivered in favour of the PDP in suit FHC/OS/CS/94/202 by a Federal High Court in Osogbo on November 25, 2022. It was exactly two days before Adeleke was sworn in.
A copy of the second judgment APP got in suit FHC/OS/CS/103/22 from the same court showed that it was delivered on November 30, 2022, two days after Adeleke assumed office as governor.
The first judgment came before Adeleke assumed office and the second one came shortly after he took the oath of office. Justice N. Ayo-Emmanuel delivered both judgments.
