The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the state government of deliberately inducing legal crises to undermine elected local government officials.
This is as the party urged the National Judicial Council, NJC, to intervene urgently in the matter.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo on Monday, the APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, said the controversy stemmed from a Court of Appeal judgment of February 10, 2025 which nullified an earlier decision that had removed APC elected chairmen and councillors across the state.
Lawal who stated that the appellate judgment was never appealed by the state government, yet it was allegedly ignored, added that the reinstated chairmen and councillors resumed duties on February 17, 2025 in line with the ruling.
He alleged that “the refusal to accept the judgment led to coordinated attacks on reinstated council officials on the same day, during which the then Chairman of Irewole Local Government, Hon Remi Abbas, was killed.”
Lawal also accused the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, in the state of joining the state government to compel workers to stay away from work.
According to him, “the state government later conducted a purported local government election on 22 February 2025 based on a five-month notice, an exercise the APC had challenged in court and which remained pending.”
Lawal alleged that multiple suits were subsequently filed by the state government in different courts over the same subject matter already determined by the Court of Appeal, describing the development as an abuse of court processes.
He claimed that on February 21, 2025, an Osun State High Court judge delivered a ruling within 48 hours, directing the state government to conduct fresh elections, an action he said attempted to render the appellate judgment ineffective.
He disclosed that the APC responded by filing a suit to set aside the decision and by petitioning the NJC.
The APC chairman said “NULGE also instituted a separate suit seeking recognition of PDP candidates as council officials, while the state government procured an interim order at the Federal High Court on 15 May 2025 which was used to restrict the release of local government funds.”
Lawal stated that the Court of Appeal on June 13, 2025 reaffirmed that its judgment of February 19, 2025 reinstating APC chairmen and councillors remained valid and could not be revisited under a so-called sister appeal.
He added that “a Federal High Court suit filed by the state government in Abuja was struck out on 29 October 2025, raising hopes that the dispute had ended, only for the government to allegedly obtain further interim orders from the Oyo State High Court over the same issue.”
According to Lawal, “the Supreme Court on 5 December 2025 struck out the state government’s suit on the matter, affirming that the Court of Appeal judgment reinstating the APC officials remained binding. The apex court held that the state government had no legal basis to rely on decisions in cases to which it was not a party.”
He said the Supreme Court judgment effectively nullified the February 22, 2025 local government election and settled claims regarding the lawful occupants of council offices in the state.
Lawal warned that despite the apex court ruling, the state government had continued to file new cases in lower courts, a development he said threatened the rule of law and judicial consistency.
He clarified that the reinstated chairmen and councillors had not approached any court to extend their tenure, but had only sought judicial interpretation on the duration of their tenure under existing Osun State laws.
The APC chairman accused the state government of misleading the public and federal authorities through a media war including allegations of withheld local government funds and selective interpretations of court judgments.
He called on the “NJC to act swiftly on petitions submitted against judges involved in the matter. Timely action would strengthen public confidence in the judiciary and discourage resort to violence.”
Lawal, who commended the judiciary, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Security and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the media for their professionalism during the prolonged legal disputes also thanked the people of the state for remaining law-abiding throughout the crisis.
