- Safiu Kehinde
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has warned the newly elected local government Chairman and Councillors to stay away from their council secretariats until further notice.
Adeleke gave the warning during the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected LG Council leaders on Sunday.
The governor’s directive is coming against the backdrop of the controversial ruling of the Court of Appeal which reinstated the LG Chairmen and Councillors sacked by an Osun High Court ruling in 2022.
NPO reported that the reinstated council leaders who are members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had, last week Monday, attempted to take over the secretariats which led to deadly clash with members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Despite the crisis which claimed over six lives and injured several others, the reinstated council leaders took over the secretariats on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Osun State Independent National Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) had scheduled another LG election for Saturday which was conducted despite call for its postponement by the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Nigerian Police Force.
With the APC and Labour Party withdrawing from the election, the PDP swept all the Chairmanship and councillors seat at the election.
Addressing the elected council leaders, Adeleke charged them to steer clear of the local government secretariats to avoid any clash with APC LG officials allegedly aided by the Police to forcefully occupy the secretariats.
He, however, assured them that the APC Council officials will be removed in compliance with the High Court ruling which sacked them.
“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”, the Governor assured.