Only LG officials elected 2025 can lead Osun councils – electoral chair.
Hashim Abioye, Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, has stated that only the chairman and councillors elected in the February 22, 2025, local government elections can legitimately perform management powers over councils in the state.
In response to the ongoing debate about the legitimacy of the 2025 local government elections, Abioye stated that the exercise was carried out in strict accordance with legal and constitutional standards and that no legitimate court ruling had prevented the election.
Governance has been stalled in the state’s 31 local governments as staff withdraw their services amid a power struggle between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress.
The two parties have been fighting for control of the councils since a Court of Appeal decision in Akure, which the APC claimed reinstated the ousted chairmen and councillors elected on October 15, 2022, during the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
However, the state administration and the PDP argued that the appellate court did not give such a remedy.
In response to the controversy, OSSIEC held new elections on February 22, 2025, resulting in a new set of local government representatives.
On May 17, APC members who claimed to have been rehabilitated by the court attempted to resume duties at their local council offices but were met with violence and fatalities from PDP members.
The battle killed six individuals, including Remi Abbas, the reinstated Chairman of the Irewole Local Government.
Despite the killings, APC members seized council offices across the state the following week.
However, civil personnel have refused to return to work.
Abioye commented on the incident, stating that the OSSIEC-conducted election was legitimate and followed proper process.
He emphasised that only individuals elected in February 2025 will have constitutional and statutory authority to serve as council officials.
“Our items for February 22, 2025, are legitimate. As of today, no other person or authority can legitimately exercise management powers over our local councils except the elected chairman and councillors selected by OSSIEC,” he stated.
He went on to say that, unlike the 2022 election, which was overturned by two consecutive Federal High Court decisions, the 2025 election was held on a firm legal foundation.
“According to a current Federal High Court judgement, the 2022 YES/NO election was declared unlawful, and the officers who conducted it were fired. Vacancies occurred when we issued the election notice. Duly elected politicians appeared, were declared, returned, and were sworn in. “That is still the law,” he explained.
Abioye cautioned that any individual or institution dealing with someone apart from those elected in 2025 would be doing so at their own risk.