… As APC Withdraws From Exercise
THE Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has appealed to the Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, to direct the state electoral commission to put the forthcoming 22 February local government elections on hold.
Prince Fagbemi’s supplication is coming amid the withdrawal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the local government poll scheduled for Saturday, 22 February 2025.
This was contained in a letter dated 17 February 2025, signed by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Alao Kamorudeen, and addressed to the Secretary of the State Independent Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, Prince Fagbemi, In a statement on Thursday, said the elected LGA chairpersons who were earlier sacked must be reinstated since the Court of Appeal had dismissed the judgment of the lower court that sacked them.
“I will appeal to His Excellency, Governor Adeleke, to toe the path of law in this matter and not instigate unnecessary violence in Osun State. Nobody benefits from violence,” AGF said.
“It is, therefore, of utmost importance for Governor Adeleke to advise the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) to shelve the idea of proceeding with any local government election now.”
On its part, APC says it would not participate due to the 10 February 2025 Court of Appeal judgment, which reinstated its chairmen and councillors.
The letter read: “Recall that the judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No. FHF/OS/CS/94/2022 was meritoriously nullified on 10 February 10 by the Court of Appeal in Akure, in appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022 between APC and three others v. Peoples Democratic Party and others. By the judgment, the elected officers have resumed office as allowed by the Appeal Court.
“The implication of the Court of Appeal judgment, as cited above, is that the seats are no longer vacant.
“In view of the foregoing, we hereby state that the APC and all its candidates have, by this letter, informed the commission of our withdrawal from the local government election scheduled for 22 February 2025. The same has become unnecessary, superfluous, and unlawful due to this development.”
There was a crisis between the APC and PDP over the Court of Appeal judgment regarding the sacked APC council chairmen and councillors.
While the PDP claimed that the 10 February judgment of the Court of Appeal, Akure, did not reinstate the sacked APC chairmen and councillors elected in 2022, the APC insisted on their return to local government secretariats.
Crisis, however, erupted on Monday when both parties laid claim to local government secretariats across the state.
Police authority in the skate confirmed that six people lost their lives, and scores were injured during the crisis.
Eighteen-Eleven Media