The Osun State House of Assembly has stated that elected officials should be permitted to remain in office since the decision annulling the state’s most recent local government elections on October 15 has been appealed.
According to The PUNCH, this was disclosed by the Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Assembly, Kunle Alabi, through a press statement on Wednesday.
The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, through its Executive Secretary, Adedapo Adejumo, had withdrawn Certificates of Return issued to elected officials of LGAs and announced a decision not to appeal the decision of an Osogbo Federal High Court that had sacked them.
The Assembly, however, stated that it reached the decision to keep the sacked Council officials in office during a plenary when its Speaker, Timothy Owoeye, briefed members on the outcome of a private meeting with the governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
While briefing Assembly members on the outcome of the meeting with Adeleke, Owoeye stated that there was a mutual understanding that the House would now be carried along on legislative matters.
The statement partly read, “On the issue of LG administration, Owoeye informed the plenary of a notice of appeal against the decision of a Federal High Court judgment served on the 7th Assembly.
“The House thereby resolves that the issue of Local Government administration should be left to the court of law, ordering a status quo on all Local Government administration pending the exhaustion on all legal means.”
Quoting Owoeye while addressing his colleagues, the statement further read, “This is the Osun State House of Assembly, anything we are doing has to be to the development and progress of this state, we have not done anything wrong or foul of the law.
“As an institution, we x-ray and scan whatever we disseminate because as far as the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is concerned, we are performing legislative duties and our functions as legislators.
“When Aregbesola took over the mantle of leadership in 2010, the PDP-controlled local government was still in place and the status quo remained. Nobody dissolved the local government until all legal processes were completed.”
