Osun APC Rejects Claims of Illegal Occupation of LG Secretariat

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has rejected claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a coalition of civil society organisations that its local government chairmen are illegally occupying council secretariats across the state.

The controversy followed a call by the Network of Civil Society Groups, which alleged that the tenure of the APC chairmen expired on October 26, 2025, and demanded their immediate withdrawal from all local government offices.

Addressing journalists on Monday in Osogbo, the group’s convener, Stephen Olanrewaju, accused the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force of providing protection for what he described as illegal executives occupying the council secretariats.

The group also called for the immediate withdrawal of police personnel from the secretariats, insisting that security agencies should not be used to enforce what it termed the unlawful occupation of public offices.

Olanrewaju traced the local government crisis in the state to February 2025, linking it to unresolved legal disputes over council administration.

“In 2022, the Federal High Court nullified the purported local government elections conducted by the APC-led administration in Osun State and consequently sacked all APC chairmen and councillors purportedly elected from that exercise for failing to meet the required legal provisions,” he said.

According to him, the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered on June 13, 2025, by Justices Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye, Peter Obiorah and Hadiza Rabiu Shagari.

He alleged that despite the court rulings, the sacked officials refused to vacate office, claiming a reinstatement order which, he said, did not exist.

“Acting on this falsehood, they forcefully occupied local government council secretariats across the state with armed police protection,” Olanrewaju said.

Describing the development as unlawful, he added that the continued occupation of the secretariats by tenure-expired and court-sacked officials was illegal and unconstitutional, urging security agencies to desist from actions that promote lawlessness.

Aligning with the civil society position, the Osun PDP Director of Media, Oladele Bamiji, said the APC chairmen “have no tenure of office and should not be laying claim to any.”

Bamiji called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene, warning that the situation could undermine democratic governance.

“They were sacked by the court and yet they have refused to leave the secretariats. The dangerous part of it is that the Osun Police Command is aiding these APC chairmen,” he said.

Reacting, the Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, dismissed the allegations, accusing the civil society group of misunderstanding the legal issues surrounding local government administration in the state.

Olabisi described it as gross misinformation to label the APC chairmen as illegal occupants, insisting that they were reinstated by a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on February 10, 2025, which he said was not appealed.

He also disclosed that a suit is currently pending before the Federal High Court in Osogbo to determine the tenure of the reinstated chairmen and whether fresh local government elections can be conducted during the subsistence of their tenure.