Resurgence of wonderful happenings took place yesterday, 21st February, 2025, in Osun State when the news broke that one Court from Osogbo judicial division had given a judgment declaring offices of the elected local government officers vacant.
The wonders covered a number of areas and particularly the fact that the parties and the judge who delivered the judgment were all aware that the Higher Court in Akure division of the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment that reinstated these officers on 10th February, 2025 in a landmark judgment.
Further investigation revealed that the parties in the judgment are those who are working together to forcefully conduct local government elections on 22nd February, 2025 and a decision which has been widely criticized as not only being illegal but also wrong criminally.
Discerning citizens argued that the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), which is a party to the Appeal Court judgment of February, ought to appeal the decision in the event that if it is not satisfied with it or confused about it.
Also, it is of popular opinion that why must the umpire appeal a decision that in a way sustained and endorsed conduct of the election which the OSSIEC did in 2022 afterall OSSIEC must not be seen as picking interest in a particular set of people to occupy the seats forcefully. If the tenure of those elected in 2022 had not expired, what exactly is the worry of the OSSIEC to hurriedly conduct another one in 2025 after the case to nullify the 2022 had lasted for two and half years.
OSSIEC has, by its conduct, announced to the world that it has a special interest in those who want to participate in the planned elections and a show of not being independent but purely political.
No surprise, multiple lawsuits are in court to challenge the competence of the current chairman of the Commission, who is widely alleged to be a card-carrying member of the PDP.
In the 21st February 2025 judgment, the Plaintiff is the PDP suing the OSSIEC and its Chairman, Hashim Abioye, an alleged card carrying member of the Plaintiff. Obviously, Suit No. HIL/M19/2025, in which the judge delivered judgment, is a grand scam of the century.
This OSSIEC in what appears its attempt to lash back at the Appeal Court judges who reprimanded OSSIEC for being unreliable under its current chairman deliberately disobeyed the judgment and went on air days and nights insisting that it would go ahead and conduct another election in 2025 during which the OSSIEC knows tenure of the reinstated elected officers lasts.
Not only that, the plaintiff state chairman and national executives also insisted they would go ahead and conduct another round of elections into the offices that are not yet vacant. Both the Plaintiff and the OSSIEC are supported by the chairman, and they hijacked the air space for more than ten days prior to 21st February 2025 insisted that no one would stop the elections. They issued a series of press releases to prove their stand. They went on radio stations and TV and engaged rumor peddlers to assist in doing the job.
Facts from record further proved that the OSSIEC chairman was even on one popular rave fm on that 21st February 2025 around 10:00am announcing his readiness to go ahead with the elections.
The same PDP now fraudulently sued the OSSIEC and it’s chairman, Hasim Abioye, asking the court to compel them to conduct elections into the same local governments known fully well that those seats are not vacant.
The judgment is allegedly claiming that the suit was commenced on 18th February, 2025 and heard and judgment delivered on 21st February 2025 all within two days and a period during which both the Plaintiff and Defendants were seriously insisting to disregard the appeal court judgment and go ahead with the elections scheduled for 22nd February, 2025.
The judgment also said one APP judgment had sacked the elected officers of the councils on 30th November 2022. Whereas the officers had been sacked and left office on 27th November, 2022, by the governor relying on a different judgment of 25th November, 2022.
The 2 day lasted suit judgment also claimed that the appeal court on 13th January 2025 in the APP appeal affirmed the purported sacking of the reinstated elected officers.
Most surprising about the desperation of the parties in the two day lasting judgment is criminal concealment of the fact that it was a dismissal of notice of appeal for want of prosecution that happened on 13th January, 2025 in the APP appeal which both the parties and the judge are aware of.
Also, the parties criminally concealed a serious and huge fact that the appeal is still pending since 23rd January, 2025 when the appellant in the same APP Appeal had filed a motion to relist the appeal and which the same OSSIEC has been served and filed no any defence to it.
The fact that the parties did all this and the judge hijacked proceedings from the appeal court by the two day lasting judgment tells the world the extent parties in the suit had gone to criminally disobey appeal court judgment of 10th February, 2025 which reinstated the elected officers.
Further investigation revealed that the parties and the court are all aware that the Attorney General of Federation had issued opinions advising the same OSSIEC to allow the reinstated elected officers stay their tenure.
Popular views have stated that one interest sought to be protected by the desperate insisted to conduct the elections is really not about the validity of the elections but probably to use the conduct of the elections to justify certain government initial financial commitment to the planned elections.
Little wonders people have to rise and defend the reinstatement of the elected officers and a move that shows the belligerent OSSIEC too may counter.
Meanwhile, the Police have advised OSSIEC and the Osun State Government to suspend the elections based on cogent intelligence report so as to allow law and order and peace to reign.
It is also advisable that the whole scenes leading to making of the two-day lasted judgment be investigated. It is very unfortunate that such a judgment is not sensitive to security of lives and properties of the good people of Osun State.
