The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are trading tackles over a ruling of the Court of Appeal on the sacking of local government executives by the Adeleke administration.
Adeleke raised the alarm on Sunday in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, accusing the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Gboyega Oyelota, of directing security agencies in the state to reinstate the sacked council executives, citing the ruling of the appellate court.
The governor described Oyetola’s directive to the security agencies as an attempt to create unrest in the state, exploiting his (Oyetola’s) family ties with President Bola Tinubu.
Adeleke said, “I called this press conference to alert the national and global audience about a deliberate plot to create chaos and anarchy in Osun State. I invite you all to expose a fascist, anti-democratic agenda designed to enforce a non-existent court judgment on our local governments.”
According to the governor, the said ruling of the Appeal Court did not order the reinstatement of the sacked council executives.
He added that a previous judgment in a case filed by another political party had ordered the removal of the council executives months before he assumed office as governor.
“The bone of contention is the brazen effrontery to reinstate council chairmen sacked by a subsisting court judgment using a different court decision, which has no consequential order. “Let me make it clear that these officials were removed before I was sworn in as governor, contrary to claims that they were dismissed by my executive order,” Adeleke added.
The governor said, unlike Oyetola, President Tinubu would not support any unconstitutional act that could threaten peace in Osun State. He called on the federal government, the judiciary, and the public to intervene before the situation gets out of hand. However, the Osun APC, in a swift response, dismissed Adeleke’s allegation as an attempt to evade legal procedures. The party advised him to approach the Supreme Court if dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
A spokesman for the APC in the state, Kola Olabisi, denied that Oyetola had issued any illegal directives to security agencies as alleged by Adeleke, describing the governor’s accusation as blackmail.
Olabisi said, “Oyetola has not instructed anyone, including security chiefs, on how to do their job. Adeleke should know that blackmail or sentiment will not change the court’s decision.”
The party spokesman argued that the APC-led local government officials were unjustly removed in 2022 and had now been lawfully reinstated by the appellate court.
“The court has spoken, and those affected by Adeleke’s actions have been left out in the cold for too long. Now that justice has been served, as the leader of the Osun APC, Oyetola is committed to ensuring the ruling is implemented,” Olabisi said.
He insisted that the APC would remain law-abiding but would also ensure that the appellate court’s verdict was respected.
“The court of law has spoken, and the verdict must be obeyed. So, he should stop this blackmail because that will not work here. As for us in APC, we will remain law-abiding, but we won’t sleep on our right,” he said.
