PDP says ‘we are vindicated,’ as court sacks new LG chiefs in Osun

By Stephen Gbadamosi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has hailed the sack of local government chairmen recently elected in the state by a Federal High Court, saying it is vindicated by its activism against “the illegality of outgoing Oyetola-led administration.”

Justice Ayo-Nathaniel Emmanuel of Federal High Court, Osogbo had declared local government election that was conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) on 15th October as illegal, null and void, having not been conducted in consonance with Electoral Act, 2022.

The court had ordered the products (chairmen and councilors) of the said election to vacate local government secretariats and offices with immediate effect.

Reacting to the judgment, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Akindele Adekunle, lamented that about N1.5 billion “that should have been best deployed for workers’ welfare was wasted by the Oyetola-led 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 of that fake selection they called election. We had cited all relevant legal authorities to convince OSIEC to back out of the undemocratic scheme.

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“The commission’s chairman, who himself is a lawyer, decided to act against clear provisions of the law to supervise this crudely executed lawlessness.

“This judgment is an affirmation of the correctness of many alerts we had 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,” he said.

While congratulating PDP members and people of Osun State, the party chairman pledged that the party and its governor-elect would right all the wrongs, protect the public service, observe due process, deliver on local government autonomy and be responsive to citizens’ aspirations.