Shortly after the loss of Mr Gboyega Oyetola to current Governor Nurudeen Adeleke in the 2022 Osun gubernatorial elections, the outgoing APC administration in the state abruptly decided to conduct local government elections, which they had failed to do in the preceding 12 years that they were at the helm of affairs. The extremely strange timing of the decision to conduct the elections is however not the focus here, so I say no more on this.
The insurmountable legal and credibility challenge that the decision to conduct the elections faced, was the non-compliance with the requirements of the period of the notice of elections as mandatorily stipulated by the Electoral Act, with penal sanctions imposed against any local government election process based on an insufficient notice. See Section 150 (1) – (4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (among others).
For the record, the Electoral Act stipulated a 360-day Notice of Elections prior to the conduct of any Local Government Election, but the outgoing administration of the APC, amended the “Electoral law of the State of Osun” to stipulate only a 30-day Notice, regardless of the overarching provisions of Section 150(1) of the Electoral Act, which automatically invalidates any law that may be made by any state house of assembly to limit the length of notice.
Of course the insistence to conduct the LG elections in spite of the insufficiency of notice (among other infractions) threw up a number of legal challenges, notable of which were the suits filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Peoples Party (APP) at the Federal High Court, Osogbo. In the course of the proceedings of PDP’s suit, the Originating Summons filed, was amended with leave of Court. More on this later.
Not surprisingly, in November, 2022, Justice N. Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court in both suits filed by the PDP and APP respectively, invalidated the elections (alias YES or NO elections) and sacked all persons occupying offices by virtue of the said sham elections. The APC was a party to both suits, and the Court based its decision on the glaring invalidity of the Notice of Elections (among other reasons).
The decision of the Federal High Court in the two cases resulted in Appeals filed at the Court of Appeal, Akure Division. On 13th January, 2025, the appeal emanating from the Federal High Court’s decision in APP’s case was DISMISSED for want of prosecution. The implication of this is that the Federal High Court decision in APP vs. INEC & 6 Ors (APC was the 6th Defendant in the case) subsists till date.
On 10th February, 2025, the suit filed by the PDP at the Federal High Court in 2022 was struck out by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal in arriving at the order striking out the suit, considered only the first two issues (related to amendment of the originating process and disclosure of a reasonable cause of action) out of the total of 4 issues formulated by the Appellants (APC & 3 Ors). Notably, the Court of Appeal did not proceed to determine the remaining two issues, and one of the issues NOT determined by the Court of Appeal, was the issue revolving around the propriety of the order of the Federal High Court sacking the persons occupying offices in the local government by virtue of the elections of 2022.
It thus beggars belief that it will be insinuated that the decision of the Court of Appeal of 10th February, 2025 has returned the sacked Chairmen and Councillors to office and that the offices into which the local government elections is being conducted today is not vacant. One might ask at this point whether any positive order of the Court of Appeal reinstating anybody could have erupted from an issue not considered, and if there was NO decision of the Court of Appeal on the relevant issue No. 4, on what premise will the decision of the Federal High Court in APP’s case, against which an appeal has even been dismissed, be discountenanced or put in abeyance.
It is sad that what ought to have ended in the courtroom and not generated any furore whatsoever has resulted in avoidable deaths and destruction akin to the wetie crises of the first republic. Also, offices and institutions of state that are supposed to be even-handed in their actions and recommendations have also been circumscribed and slanted by the partisan leanings of the government they serve under. Until these anomalies are remedied, I fear for the fate of law & order, and the rule of law in Nigeria.
