After reading the submission by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and other submissions, comments, including insults, following the first part of this piece, I am compelled to make this intervention, especially in the light of the legal opinion from the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi.
Let me state clearly from the onset that, contrary to the view held by Chief Ozekhome, SAN, as at today, Friday 21, 2025, the only valid judgement is the Appeal Court judgement of February 10, 2025, reinstating the sacked Council Officials.
As a layman that I am, I beg to disagree with Chief Ozekhome, SAN position that the sacked Council Officials were not reinstated. If I may ask, what is the ordinary meaning of these pronouncements as made by the court: “This Appeal is meritorious and is hereby allowed.” Without getting too legalistic, it will be preposterous for anyone to hold that the February 10 judgement did not reinstate the sacked Council Officials, taking into cognisance the prayers of the APC before the learned justices of the Appeal Court.
The APC had prayed the court to grant the following reliefs: “an Order allowing this appeal, an Order setting aside the ruling delivered by the Lower Court on 15th September, 2022 and dismissing the 1st Respondent’s Motion on Notice to amend dated 29th August, 2022 (but filed on 2nd September, 2022), an Order granting the Appellants’ Motion on Notice to dismiss suit dated 28th October, 2022, an Order setting aside and nullifying the judgment of the lower court delivered on 25th November, 2022, an Order invoking Section 16 of the Court of Appeal Act to determine the suit of the 1st Respondent on the basis of the Originating Summons dated 27th July, 2022, an Order dismissing Suit No: FHC/OS/CS/94/2022, an Order restoring the Appellants back into their offices having been duly elected by the citizens of Osun State, and (any) such further or other Orders as this Honourable Court may make in the circumstances of this appeal.”
And all the reliefs sought, particularly an Order “restoring the Appellants back into their offices having been duly elected by the citizens of Osun State,” were all granted by the Appeal Court. So, what exactly is the Benin Chief talking about?
In case Chief Ozekhome does not know, the first judgement obtained in this matter was obtained by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on November 25, 2022. Ordinarily, by virtue of Section 138(1) of the Electoral Act, notwithstanding the purported sacking of the Council officials by the Federal High Court, they are entitled to continue to enjoy the benefits of office untill the matter is dispensed with by the final court.
However, rather than wait until the final court makes its pronouncement, Governor Ademola Adeleke, upon be sworn in on Sunday, November 27, 2022, announced the sacking of the Council Officials vide an Executive Order relying on the 25th November, 2022 judgment. Whereas, the judgement from the Action People’s Party (APP) suit, which the PDP and their sympathisers are clinging to, came on November 30, after the governor had taken action. Therefore, technically speaking, that judgement is of no effect, especially because it was not different from that of the PDP, earlier obtained, which was the basis upon which the All Progressives Congress (APC), had approached the court in the first instance.
Although, the APC applied for a stay of execution, it was erroneously denied it. Nonetheless, it continued with the matter by filing a notice of Appeal.
The ruling of January 13, 2025, involving the APP, which the PDP wants to use as a lifeline, is already being challenged by way of an application for the relisting of the matter. The application for relisting was filed on January 23, 2025. Therefore, as at today, the matter is still pending. In the light of the foregoing, the only valid judgement that is yet to be challenged remains the one obtained by APC on February 10, 2025.
At any rate, neither the PDP nor the Osun State Government are parties in the so called APP suit. To that extent, they should not ordinarily benefit from the outcome of that ruling.
Let me remind my readers once more that when Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took over in 2010, PDP elected Local Government officials were in place. In spite of the fact that the Action Congress (AC), as it was then known, had challenged the conduct of the election, the same way the PDP did in 2022, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that later took over the reign of government in 2010, did not dissolve the PDP Council officials. Instead, the government allowed the case to run its full course. Hon. Bamidele Salam, a serving member of the House of Representatives from Osun, who is today pontificating over a non-existent counter ruling to that of February 10, was a beneficiary of that scenario. How come, someone like him, a lawyer did not talk real sense into the heads of those misleading our Dancing Governor?
I said it before, and let me reiterate here that having played into the hands of the APC, all the PDP need to do is to return to the court, while allowing the council officials to take their seats.
I am aware the State Government is still threatening to go ahead with tomorrow’s election. Well, that has its own implications. I am aware that there are various suits already challenging the competence of the electoral body’s chairman, my good friend and brother, Hasim Abioye, a card-carrying member of the PDP to preside over the exercise. Rather than waste our resources and plunge the state into avoidable state of anarchy, I will strongly advise Mr. Governor to allow reason to prevail over sentiment by returning to the court to perfect the processes.
Mr. Governor, recall that even after the Tribunal stacked you, you remained in office until the matter was decided by the final court. This is what the APC is also asking for. They cannot be sacked by fiat. Anything short of that will be an invitation to anarchy.
I rest my case for now!
