JUST-IN: Court Declares Osun Local Govt Elections Illegal

The Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State capital, has nullified the recent local government elections conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC).

Delivering the judgement on Friday, His Lordship, Hon. Justice Ayo-Nathaniel Emmanuel, declared the local government election that was conducted by OSIEC on Saturday, October 15, 2022 as Illegal, null and void having not conducted in consonance with the Electoral Act of 2022.

The Court consequently ordered the newly elected Local Government Chairmen and Councillors from the said election to vacate Local Government Secretariats and Offices with immediate effect.

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had approached the Court, asking it to stop OSIEC from going ahead with the planned polls.

Meanwhile, the State chapter of the PDP has hailed the judgement, saying the party has been vindicated by its activism against the illegality of the outgoing Governor Gboyega Oyetola administration.

Reacting to the judgement, the State Caretaker Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Akindele Adekunle, lamented that about N1.5billion deployed for workers’ welfare was wasted by the Oyetola administration for the conduct of the local government elections in addition to several millions of naira illegally paid as salaries and allowances to people he called fake Local Government Council chiefs.

“We had warned against holding of that fake selection they called election. We had cited all relevant legal authorities to convince OSIEC to back out of the undemocratic scheme. The Commission chairman who himself is a lawyer decided to act against clear provisions of the law to supervise this crudely executed lawlessness.

“This judgement is an affirmation of the correctness of many alerts we had issued in recent times. The outgoing Governor had deliberately committed a lot of infractions and lawlessness. We will deploy all legal means to correct the anomalies in compliance with Public Service Rules, extant laws and the Constitution of the Republic,” the party leader stated.