BREAKING: Court Nullifies, Declares Osun LG Election Illegal
The recently completed local government election held in Osun State has been declared invalid by the Federal High Court located in the state capital of Osogbo.
The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), chaired by Segun Oladitan, conducted the local government election on Saturday, October 15, 2022.
On Friday, Justice Ayo-Nathaniel Emmanuel of the Federal High Court in Osogbo ruled that the local government election was invalid, illegal, and unconstitutional.
The election, he continued, was not carried out in accordance with the Electoral Act of 2022.
He also ordered the local government chairmen and councillors who were sworn in after the election to vacate Local Government Secretariats and offices with immediate effect.
Reacting to the court judgment, the Osun Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated that its activism against the illegality of the outgoing administration of Adegboyega Oyetola has been vindicated.
In a statement signed by Akindele Adekunle, the Osun caretaker chairman of the party, lamented that about N1.5 billion naira that has been deployed for workers’ welfare was wasted by the Oyetola’s administration for the conduct of the election in addition to several millions of naira illegally paid as salaries and allowances to fake council chiefs.
“We had warned against holding that fake selection they called election. We had cited all relevant legal authorities to convince OSIEC to back out of the undemocratic scheme. The Commission Chairman who himself is a lawyer decided to act against clear provisions of the law to supervise this crudely executed lawlessness.
“This judgement is an affirmation of the correctness of many alerts we have issued in recent times. The outgoing Governor had deliberately committed a lot of infractions and lawlessness. We will deploy all legal means to correct the anomalies in compliance with public service rules, extant laws and the constitution of the republic,” the party leader stated.
