The local government councils elected on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State have dragged the federal government, the Inspector General of Police and the Osun State Government to court over their tenure.
The development has added a new twist to the local government tenure controversy that almost put the State on the edge when the alleged reinstated local government officials took over the LGA secretariats in the state months ago.
Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, had sacked the officials who were initially elected in October 2022, after a Federal High Court nullified their elections.
Trouble, however, began with their alleged reinstatement by the Court of Appeal in February 2025.
Meanwhile, the local government elections conducted on February 22, 2025, returned members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winners and were subsequently sworn in by Governor Adeleke.
With the struggle for the control of the LGAs since then by both parties, members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state embarked on a strike following the federal government’s decision to whitheld monthly allocations due to the LGAs.
However, in a fresh suit filed at the Federal High Court, Osogbo in suit number FHC/OS/CS/147/2025, the counsel representing Saheed Onibonokuta and seven other embattled local government chairmen elected of the platform of APC, Muhideen Adeoye, sought an extension of the APC-elected chairmen’s tenure until February 19, 2028.
Other defendants in the suit included the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, Osun State Governor, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), and the State House of Assembly.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that “their tenure, under the Constitution and Osun State laws, should begin only from the date they were inaugurated and assumed office in February 2025, not from October 2022, when they were elected but prevented from taking office.”
They further averred that the conduct of the February 2025 local government elections while their tenure was still subsisting, was unlawful and an infringement on their constitutional right to a full term.
They, therefore, sought “a declaration that OSSIEC lacked authority to issue notices of polls, conduct elections, or swear in new council members during the pendency of their tenure.”
The plaintiffs also described all steps taken by state authorities since February 22, 2025 to impose new council executives as illegal, unlawful, invalid, unconstitutional, null and void.
The APC executives also prayed the court to “declare that any interpretation by the Attorney General of the Federation curtailing their tenure to end in October 2025 was beyond his legal powers and therefore unconstitutional and null.”
They prayed “the court to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police to provide security to guarantee their continued stay in office until February 2028, when their three-year tenure would expire naturally.”
Among their claims, the court was asked “to restrain Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Osun State Attorney General, the State House of Assembly, and OSSIEC from removing them or interfering with their tenure in October 2025 or any time before February 2028.”
The claimants maintained that any attempt “to forcefully oust them before the natural expiration of their tenure would amount to an abuse of due process and a violation of their constitutional rights.”
