By Danladi Adamu
It is a known fact that illegality cannot beget legality; it can only beget illegality, and that is currently what the sacked Osun state APC Council Chairmen and councilors, as well as the All Progressives Congress, APC, are doing in the state in connivance with the instruments of the police.
As it stands, there is an illegal elongation of the expired tenure of the council chiefs across local governments in Osun State by the chairmen and councilors who have been sacked, which means that there is more to it than meets the eye.
Surprisingly, at the forefront of the whole shenanigans is the Police, who are supposed to be enforcers of law, are the ones spearheading the disobedience of the law by the Osun APC and its court-sacked chairmen and councilors in the state, as the Police indeed are actively providing protection and cover for this sheer illegality across Osun state.
It would be recalled that the Federal High Court had sacked the APC chairmen and councilors in 2022, and the same court judgement was again validated by the Court of Appeal.
However, rather than obey the order of the court, the sacked chairman has refused to obey it, whereby they have been relying on a non-existent reinstatement and have been occupying the council secretariats across the state illegally, being aided and abetted by the State Commissioner of Police.
Even with their disobedience to the court order, their tenure expired on October 26th, 2024, and it is a known fact that this was confirmed in the filing by the Attorney-General of the Federation at the Supreme Court filing. The court-sacked APC chairmen and councilors also admitted to the expiration of their tenure when they filed a tenure elongation suit at a Federal High Court, Osogbo, as it stands the elongation suit is yet to be heard by the presiding judge, and no court order has been issued on the matter, but continuing in their garments of illegality, as at today and despite their tenure having expired, these sacked officials are still occupying the council secretariats in contravention of the law and the constitution.
The Supreme Court had in the case of the former governor of Oyo state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja ruled that no tenure of an elected official can be elongated either by himself or any court of law, however, the Osun State Commissioner of Police still provides protections for the court -sacked APC chairmen and councilors who again invaded and occupied the council secretariats on January 5th, where they molested civil servants who had resumed duties after months of strike action.
What the APC sacked chairmen and councilors in Osun state are purely doing is carrying out all forms of illegalities and impunities, as well as the abuse of public office, because there is nowhere in the constitution or any subsisting law that permits an individual or a group to elongate their tenure. Even when you file a tenure elongation suit, you cannot stay put in office, and you must, as a necessity, leave the office immediately once your tenure expires.
They should also know that those seeking tenure elongation should not stay a day longer in office, but rather should be out of office while pursuing their elongation suit, as this is in line with the Supreme Court ruling and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
What this portends for democracy and the rule of law is that illegality is having a bold face in Osun APC, and it is indeed a daring constitutional breach that is currently being forced on Osun local governments with the active involvement of the state police command. The police should be told to stop perpetrating this brazen act of impunity and quit protecting these illegal occupants of the council secretariats, because those whose tenure has expired should quit the secretariats or be forced out in line with the law. The barefaced violation of the constitution is a serious threat to democratic governance.
Now, to the irresponsible defence of the unprofessional conduct of the Nigerian Police during the resumption of members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) on Monday, January 5, 2025, by the APC, the APC should be told in plain language that there is no way they can use illegality to beget legality.
It is indeed ludicrous and nonsensical that the APC is putting up a partisan justification of the Police providing cover for the court-sacked chairmen and councilors, which simply means one thing, that the APC is working against the Osun people just for their own selfish and pecuniary interest.
Someone should make the APC know that using lies to sustain its illegal stay in office in the LGAs by those already sacked by the courts won’t stand, and it shows that the APC’s penchant and desperation for power grab portends grave danger to tenets of democracy.
What the APC is doing in Osun amounts to working against the people with the help of the Police as an active coconspirator. If not, why will the Osun APC be the spokesperson of the Police if it is not showing that it is a collaborator with the Police in this sheer illegality.
To set the record straight and clear the APC of its lies being peddled by it, the February 10, 2025, judgment of the Court of Appeal that it has now been using as a basis for its illegal occupation of the councils did not in any part make the pronouncement the APC keeps flaunting.
From all indications, the Osun APC’s interest in this whole issue is not anything legal or right but an absolute, treacherous attitude of power-grabbing by all means.
Finally, the Police should know that it owes it to the people of Osun State as a duty to defend and protect their mandates and ensure that the Osun APC does not continue to perpetuate this illegality with all marks of impunity and get away with it.
Danladi Adamu, a public affairs analyst on democracy, politics, and good governance, sent this piece from Kaduna.
