As FG Squares Up to Osun over Local Govt Autonomy…

Alex Enumah writes that months after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Local Government Council’s autonomy, the battle rages on as the federal government tackles the Osun State Government over the conduct of the local government polls in the state on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

The Supreme Court is the final court in Nigeria and as such, its verdict is binding on all litigants, be it an arm or tier of the federal system of government, which Nigeria operates. However, recent happenings in respect of its judgement on local government autonomy, seems to portray either that the judgement is unenforceable or that the states were yet to have an understanding of the matter.

The apex court had in a judgement delivered on July 11, 2024, held among others that the local government is the third-tier of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and as such must be manned by democratically elected officials, with their funding not controlled by the state government. The apex court, regarding the independence of Local Governments in Nigeria, had pronounced that: “Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution provides that no person or group of persons shall take control of the government of any part of Nigeria contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. By virtue of sections 1(2) and 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, local government must be by democratically elected Local Government Councils and no other body, and the government or administration of a Local Government Area by a State Government, Governor of a State, Local Government Caretaker Committee, Interim Local Government Council, Administrator, Head of Local Government or by whatever name called or by any other State agency or other body is not in accordance with the 1999 Constitution, is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and of no effect.”

Osun State is one of the states where the local governments were being run by unelected officials and in its bid to comply with the order of the Supreme Court, the state government fixed February 22, for the conduct of election into the position of chairmen, vice-chairmen and councillors in the 30 local government councils across the state.

However, this effort soon ran into stormy waters few days to the conduct of the poll, following the invasion and subsequent occupation of the LG secretariats by former officials sacked in 2022 by a Federal High Court. They claimed that the action was based on a judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered on February 10, 2025.

According to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) the sacked officials have been restored by the judgement of the appellate court and would have to serve out their tenure which expires in October.

It would be recalled that the sacked officials under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won the 2022 LG polls conducted under former Governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola, and were sworn in. However, a few days before the swearing in of Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Federal High Court in Osogbo, delivered a judgement  nullifying the election and ordered their removal from office. As soon as Adeleke assumed office a few days after the judgement, he issued executive order for the physical removal of the elected officials and replaced them with caretaker appointees.

Dissatisfied, the APC approached the appellate court which in its verdict of February 10, nullified the judgement of the Federal High Court, on grounds that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place and every decision it took was therefore rendered null and void.

Fagbemi in a statement claimed that “the judgement of the Court of Appeal had by implication effectively restored the elected Local Government officials removed by the Federal High Court, back to their offices”. The AGF subsequently advised Governor Adeleke as well as the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) to “shelf” the February 22 LGA polls because the term of office of the restored officials has regained currency and will naturally run out in October, 2025

“Any such election that may be held will not only be invalid since the term of office of the elected officials just restored by the judgement of the Court of Appeal will still be running until October 2025, it will also amount to an egregious breach of the Constitution which Governor Adeleke has sworn to uphold.

“Again, the recent judgement of the Supreme Court which has validated and entrenched Local Government autonomy also strengthens the obligation on Governor Adeleke to ensure smooth, non-violent transition from one elected officials to another in accordance with the statutorily prescribed three-year tenure.

“For avoidance of doubt, when proceedings and decisions of court are declared a nullity for lack of jurisdiction, it means they do not exist and have no effect whatsoever.

“It is my opinion that the Court of Appeal Judgment of February 10, 2025 which is superior to any High Court decision, defines the legal position in this case and represents the only legally enforceable judgement and has the legal effect of returning the initially sacked Local Government democratically elected officials of Osun State.

“The constitutional order which existed before the dissolution must be restored immediately since the judgment upon which the Governor acted to dissolve the democratically elected government has been declared a nullity for lack of jurisdiction of the Court to have heard the case and made those orders.

“I will appeal to Governor Adeleke to toe the path of law in this matter and not instigate unnecessary violence in Osun State. Nobody benefits from violence. It is, therefore, of utmost importance for Governor Adeleke to advice Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) to shelve the idea of proceeding with any Local Government Election now”, Fagbemi had said.

But, Adeleke, lawyers as well as some civil society groups disagreed with the position of Fagbemi. The Osun State governor had in a state broadcast last week, while declaring that peace had returned to the state after the recent crisis that engulfed the state following the illegal forceful takeover of local government secretariats by the court-sacked APC chairmen and Councilors, urged the people to come out en-masse to vote last Saturday.

The governor who took the opportunity to console families and friends of those who lost their lives and those who sustained injuries in the illegal take-over of the local government secretariats stated that, “As a government, we have read through the said judgement. We have submitted it to the best of legal minds for interpretation. There is nowhere a reinstatement order was issued. No matter the manner of misinterpretation, that judgement contains no consequential order nor any reinstatement directive”.

Adeleke further pointed out that the judgement in the APP suit, which sacked the APC chairmen and Councilors, is still subsisting and alive, maintaining that the appeal by APC against this judgement did not succeed at the Court of Appeal.

 “The APC appeal was dismissed”, he said, “If the occupying court-sacked APC chairmen and councilors chose to continue on the path of illegal self-help, I assure our people that the best route to resolution is the rule of law through the judiciary.

“I am committed to upholding the rule of law alongside the passionate observance of the constitution. We will allow the court to determine the correctness or otherwise of their claim. We have confidence in the democratic credentials of President Bola Tinubu, who we know will always insist on the rule of law.

“I implore our people to continue to sustain the peace that has returned to our dear state. We need peaceful coexistence to expand our good governance delivery of the past two years. Osun state remains truly peaceful.

“Finally, I urge all registered voters to vote in the local government election of Saturday, February 22, 2025, and to conduct themselves peacefully at all times”.

Also reacting, a civil society group, Osun Democrats for Democracy reminded the AGF that he is not a court of law and as such cannot stop election nor interprete court rulings.

“We were shocked that a supposed Chief Law Officer of the Federation has decided to speak on matters on which he is an interested party as a lawyer to Mr Gboyega Oyetola and from which he should have recused himself. He is not only a biased assessor but he has no power to stop an election nor clarify a court judgement”, the group said in a statement.

The group’s legal adviser, Mr Adewale Fowora, emphasized that, “only a court of law can stop an election, not an Attorney General”, adding that only a court can interpret its own rulings when there are differences of opinions about a court’s judgements. Fowora, in addition argued that the court system has its procedure for enforcing its own judgement and not through self help which the Attorney General openly supported.

“When there are disputes about the meaning of a court judgement, parties are expected to approach the court for interpretation. There AGF has no constitutional mandate to assume the powers and functions of the courts.

“Much more worrisome is the biased refusal to mention the APP judgement which sacked the APC council aspirants. The APP judgement was not the subject of appeal at Akure and so the appeal ruling at Akure has nothing to do with the subsisting APP judgement.

“We are also worried at how the AGF muddled up his narration. Who made information available to his office? Why can’t he approach the originating courts for verified judgements? Why is a whole Attorney General openly supporting self help apologists who took the law into their own hands.

“We advise the Osun state government to go ahead with the election on Saturday. The AGF statement is a political action which has no foundation in law. AGF is not the court and he cannot exercise the powers of the court”, the group submitted.

Meanwhile, an Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo last Friday ordered the State Independent Electoral Commission, to conduct the local government election scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2025. Justice A. Aderigbigbe, issued the order while ruling in a motion brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against OSIEC and Its Chairman, Hashim Abioye.

The court in the ruling held that there is vacancy in the 30 local government areas of the state as held by the judgement of the Federal High Court. According to the judge the election conducted by the OSIEC on October 15, 2022, had been invalidated, nullified and voided, and the purported elected officials produced by the purported election had been sacked by the Federal High Court in FHC/CS/OS/103/2022; ACTION PEOPLES PARTY (APP) VS. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) & Ors, delivered on the November 30, 2022 and as confirmed by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No: CA/AK/226M/2024; ALLIED PEOPLE MOVEMENT (APM) & Ors VS. ACTION PEOPLES PARTY (APP) & ORS delivered on January 13, 2025, that vacancy exists in the political administration of local councils in the state.

Having so held, Justice Aderigbigbe directed and compelled all the security agencies, comprising the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Amotekun Corps, the Vigilante group etc in the state to provide adequate security during and after the election.

Be that as it may, it is only time and the Supreme Court that will tell if Adeleke and Osun State acted in contravention of the apex court’s judgement on local government autonomy, when they conducted the local government election on Saturday, February 22, 2025.