Osun APC Chairmen Sue FG, IGP, and State Government Over Tenure Dispute

The lingering local government crisis in Osun State has escalated as reinstated executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have dragged the Federal Government, the Inspector General of Police, and the Osun State Government to court over the tenure of their offices.

The officials, elected in October 2022, were initially removed by Governor Ademola Adeleke after a Federal Court nullified their election.

However, they were reinstated by the Court of Appeal in February 2025.

Despite the appellate court’s ruling, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were sworn in as council executives following the February 22, 2025, local government elections, leaving both parties laying claim to control.

The crisis has since paralysed grassroots governance, with members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) embarking on strike and federal allocations to local councils frozen.

In a fresh suit, filed at the Federal High Court, Osogbo (Suit No: FHC/OS/CS/147/2025), counsel Muhideen Adeoye, representing Saheed Onibonokuta and seven other local government chairmen, is seeking an extension of their tenure until 19 February 2028.

The defendants in the case include the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, the Osun State Governor, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), and the Osun State House of Assembly.

The claimants argued that their tenure, under the Constitution and Osun State laws, should run from February 2025, when they were inaugurated, and not from October 2022, when they were elected but barred from assuming office.

They maintained that the conduct of fresh elections in February 2025 while their tenure was subsisting was unlawful and a violation of their constitutional right to a full term.

In their claims, the APC executives sought:

• A declaration that OSSIEC lacked the authority to conduct elections or swear in new council members during their tenure.
• A declaration that steps taken by state authorities since February 22, 2025, to impose new executives were “illegal, invalid, unconstitutional, null and void.”
• A ruling that any interpretation by the Attorney General of the Federation curtailing their tenure to October 2025 was unconstitutional.
• An order directing 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.
• An injunction restraining Governor Adeleke, the Osun State Attorney General, the State House of Assembly, and OSSIEC from interfering with their tenure before its expiration.

According to the claimants, any attempt to remove them before February 2028 would amount to an abuse of due process and a violation of their constitutional rights.

This fresh legal action marks another twist in Osun’s protracted local government crisis, which has pitted the APC, PDP, and the Adeleke-led government against each other for nearly three years.