Osun Assembly insists council chairmen must stay

The Osun State House of Assembly has said since the judgment nullifying the last October 15 local government elections in the state has been appealed, the elected officials should be allowed to continue in office.

The resolution was contained in a statement by the Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Assembly, Kunle Alabi, obtained in Osogbo on Wednesday.

Recall that the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, through its Executive Secretary, Adedapo Adejumo, withdrew the certificates of return issued to the elected officials and announced that it would not appeal the judgment of an Osogbo Federal High Court that sacked them.

The Assembly, however, stated that the decision to retain the sacked council officials was made during a plenary session when its speaker, Timothy Owoeye, briefed members on the outcome of a private meeting with the Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke.

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Owoeye, while briefing members of the Assembly, also stated that there was mutual understanding that the House would henceforth be carried along on matters that concerned the legislature.

The statement partly read, “On the issue of LG administration, Owoeye informed the plenary of a notice of appeal against the decision of a Federal High Court judgment served on the 7th Assembly.

“The House thereby resolves that the issue of local government administration should be left to the court of law, ordering a status quo on all local government administration pending the exhaustion of all legal means.”

Quoting Owoeye while addressing his colleagues, the statement further read, “This is the Osun State House of Assembly, anything we are doing has to be for the development and progress of this state; we have not done anything wrong or in violation of the law.

“As an institution, we x-ray and scan whatever we disseminate because, as far as the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is concerned, we are performing legislative duties and our functions as legislators.

“When Aregbesola took over the mantle of leadership in 2010, the PDP-controlled local government was still in place, and the status quo remained. Nobody dissolved the local government until all legal processes were completed.”