Our attention has been drawn to a troubling attempt by the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajibola Basiru to inflame passions by deliberately misrepresenting the judgement of a Court of Appeal sitting in Akure.
This was contained in a statement signed by James Bamgbose, Publicity Secretary,Osun Democrats for Democracy (ODD) on Tuesday
The statement reads;
Our following of the judicial processes right from 2022 when the first suit was filed, provided us with clear understanding of the situation at hand. We are deeply disappointed that Basiru, given his legal background, should never have made himself available for the willful disinformation of a judicial outcome, ostensibly to throw Osun on fire.
As a group with deep interest in entrenching democracy, we note that the judgement of today (Monday) touched on the timing of the filing of the suit by the PDP against the conduct of the October 15, 2022 election. While the Appellate Court did not go into the merit of the appeal before it, we want to confirm to the public that no part of the judgement ordered the reinstatement of the sacked LG officials.
The public should note that the APC appeal was anchored on 69 council chairmen and one wonder what will become of any reinstatement (assuming without conceding that is the case) now that the Supreme Court judgement has reverted the council to 30 in line with what the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provided.
Beyond this salient fact, we want to draw the attention of the public to the existence of a subsisting judgement delivered by the Federal High Court, Osogbo, on November 30, 2022, in suit no: FHC/OS/CS/103/2022 by the Action Peoples Party (APP), which also sacked the YES or NO officials. An appeal filed by the APC in suit no: CA/AK/226M/2023 was dismissed by the Appeal Court on January 13, 2025, for want of diligent prosecution, maintaining the validity of the November 30, 2022, judgement.
We can pardon the APC Chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, and Chief Kola Olabisi for the ignorance exuded on the instant matters, however, nothing can excuse Basiru’s crass irresponsibility that his jaundiced twist of the legal conundrum in Osun state. We suspect that Basiru is setting the ground to visit mayhem in Osun state in the magnitude seen in Rivers state.
It is for this reason that we implore the LPDC to take a look at Basiru’s unethical conduct, which is capable of bringing the noble profession of law into disrepute. We also call on security agents to be alive at their responsibilities by taking firm actions against agents of violence who are in the trade of twisting narratives as recent events clearly indicated.
