To avoid another round of steady violence ensuing in local government secretariats in Osun State, Governor Ademola Adeleke has directed the newly inaugurated council chairmen in the state to stay away from local government secretariat pending the resolution of the legal tussle bedevilling local government administration in the state.
Adeleke gave the directive in Osogbo on Sunday while performing the inauguration of 30 newly elected local government chairmen elected on Saturday following their earlier presentation with certificates of return by the chairman of the state Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), Barrister Hashim Abioye.
It would be recalled that the violence that erupted in Osun State councils on Monday last week culminated in the killing of a former chairman of Irewole Local Government Area, Mr. Aderemi Abbas, and six others.
His words: “I urge you and your councillors to please stay away from the council secretariats to avoid any clash with those whom the police had aided to forcefully occupy the local government secretariats forcefully.
“An Osun State High Court had affirmed the vacancies in both the Chairman and Councilors positions in all of Osun State Local Governments before your election on the 22nd February 2025. We will, therefore, rely on the judiciary to ensure a peaceful removal of those illegally occupying the local government secretariats”.
Recall that OSSIEC declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates winners in both the 332 councillorship and the 30 local government chairmanship seats in the local government election conducted on February 22, 2025.
Adeleke charged the chairmen to deliver on good governance in their respective local governments, tasked them to develop plans of action within the manifesto of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and called on them to be agents of change, community developers and deliverers of dividends of democracy.
Dignitaries at the inauguration include the PDP Governor’s forum Chairman and Governor of Bauchi, Engr Bala Muhammad, the Governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde, the former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative, Hon Lasun Yusuff, the Osun Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, the Speaker of the Osun House of Assembly, Hon. Adewale Egbedun, and the Osun State PDP Chairman, Hon Sunday Bisi.
In his speech, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State urged the inaugurated chairmen to remember the promises they made during their campaign, saying that their election is an opportunity for them to deliver goodies to the people at the grassroots level.
He said, “These will be your stepping stones to higher positions, and the reward for hard work and delivery is more work.
“We don’t want the wild west again. They should stay away from this zone. We want to provide the dividend of democracy to the people peacefully.
“They should not resort to self-help even if there is a court judgment. They should not think because they have Federal might. This is a federal arrangement. I will stop here”, Makinde advised.
