Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Sunday, called on President Bola Tinubu to warn the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, against unleashing mayhem in the state, starting from today (Monday).

But in a swift response, Oyetola, in a press statement on Sunday, refuted Adeleke’s claim that he was plotting to destabilise Osun State, saying his antecedents, pedigree and track records of public service in the last 15 years do not support Adeleke’s claim.

“For the four years he governed Osun, he gave a good account of himself as a man of peace, a respecter of the rule of law and one not given to violence. If he is given to violence, he would certainly have fought back violently in 2022 when was brazenly rigged out,” a statement by Oyetola’s media team said.

The statement said anyone accusing Oyetola of violence “needs to have his/her head properly examined.”

Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo on Sunday, Adeleke accused Oyetola of orchestrating a plan to enforce the verdict of the Court of Appeal, Akure Division of February 10, which allowed the appeal filed by the local government chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in the October 15, 2022 election.

The elected LG officials were sacked by a decision of Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of an Osogbo Federal High Court on November 25, 2022.

But following the Court of Appeal’s decision, they have been angling to return, a situation that did not sit well with the Adeleke-led administration, which has fixed February 22 to conduct a fresh LG poll.

At the weekend, Oyetola, who is the immediate past governor of Osun, held a meeting with APC stakeholders in Osogbo and called on the security agencies to facilitate the return of the sacked APC LG chairmen back to office.

In response to Oyetola’s call, Adeleke, on Sunday, held a press conference, where he declared Oyetola’s call as an invitation to anarchy or violence in the state.

Adeleke, who was flanked by the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, and the Commissioner for Information, Kolapo Alimi, insisted that the Court of Appeal judgment, which the APC LG chairmen were bandying, did not make an express order returning them to office.

He alleged that Oyetola had met with and given instructions to security chiefs in the state, including the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Abbar, the Director of the Department of State Services and the Commandant of the Civil Defense Corps, Mr. Igbalawole Sotiyo, to help the sacked LG chairmen back to office.

“Before I continue this address, let me affirm that I know Mr. President to be a true democrat, a lover of the rule of law, and a believer in the sanctity of the judicial process. I know, as a matter of fact, that Mr. President will never authorise a dictatorial violation of the constitution irrespective of who is involved. It is crucial to add that Mr. President will never support any action that is capable of generating bloodbath and bloodshed.

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“I, however, regret to inform Mr. President and the public that Mr Gboyega Oyetola has concluded an arrangement to cause mayhem in Osun State, starting from Monday. He is issuing illegal directives to security operatives to enforce illegality simply because he is the nephew of Mr. President.

“I chose to alert the nation before my people are killed or maimed by a minister dropping the name of Mr. President in connivance with the Osun state security operatives obeying unlawful orders,” Adeleke said.

He described Oyetola’s push to return the sacked LG chairmen to office as “brazen effrontery”.

Adeleke said, “Let me make it clear that the said council chairmen were sacked before I was sworn in as governor of Osun State, contrary to the lies being peddled, that the chairmen and councilors were sacked by my Executive Order.

“For emphasis, l want to state that I had nothing to do with the sacking of the chairmen and councilors produced by the Osun 2022 local government polls. The chairmen and councilors were sacked by two different judgments of the Federal High Court in Osogbo.

“The script Mr Oyetola is playing is about the most reprehensible abuse of power in this Fourth Republic, capable of untold and unforeseen consequences on the polity.

“The general public is aware that there were two different Federal High Court judgments on the local government election of 2022. The first judgment was on the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, which sacked the product of the 2022 polls. The second judgment was on the suit filed by the Action People Party, which also sacked the chairmen and councillors produced by the said 2022 Osun local government polls.

“The APC appealed against the judgment obtained by the PDP was partially successful, and the said judgment was struck out based on the timing of filing, having been filed before the notice of election was published.”

Adeleke insisted that no consequential orders were given by the Court of Appeal to return the sacked APC LG chairmen to office.

“It needs to be emphasised that the judgment contains no consequential orders. The APC, in its amended Notice of Appeal, asked the Court of Appeal to reinstate the sacked chairmen and councillors, but the Court of Appeal, in its wisdom, said it had become an academic exercise. The request for the reinstatement of the chairmen and councillors was not granted.

“However, the appeal by the APC against the APP judgment did not succeed at the Court of Appeal, which makes the judgment still subsisting and alive.

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“The Court of Appeal dismissed the APC appeal against the judgment obtained by the APP. The only legal recourse open to the APC is to appeal the APP judgment and the subsequent rulings of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The Certified True Copies of both judgments had earlier been forwarded to the Osun State Commissioner of Police, the state Director of the DSS and the state Commandant of Civil Defence by the Osun State Attorney General, for their information and records.

“The Certified True Copies of both judgments are in the public domain. The judgment of the Court of Appeal on the PDP case was not ambiguous whatsoever. It simply struck out the PDP suit and did not in any of its paragraphs order the reinstatement of the sacked council chairmen and councilors.”

Adeleke called on legal experts and the Nigerian Bar Association to fact-check by reading and interpreting the judgments on Osun’s last local government elections, noting that it remained “illegal, unconstitutional, and anti-democratic to take the law into your own hands.”

“For a serving minister, the person of Mr Gboyega Oyetola to lead the charge to violate the Constitution and foment violence over a judicial process is not only shameful but is sadism and treason taken too far.

“We have it on good authority that Mr Gboyega Oyetola has instructed the Osun State Commissioner of Police, the state Director of the DSS and the state Commandant of civil defence corps to mobilise security operatives from within Osun to effect the non-existent judgment by forcefully taking over the local governments on Monday.

“Mr Oyetola and the police boss have been holding a series of meetings on how to effect the illegal operations. We affirm that Mr Gboyega Oyetola has no constitutional authority to issue directives to the security agencies.

“The fact that Mr Oyetola is nephew of Mr. President does not confer any such authority on him. We see this as a gross betrayal of trust reposed in the Osun State security officers by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I want to state that the current nefarious activities of Mr Oyetola and the bosses of Osun security agencies constitute grave incitement. These need to stop because we are neither interested in resorting to self-help nor in support of violence to resolve political matters. As much as we are law-abiding people, we are fierce protectors of our rights, at night and by the day.

“I want to place on notice the Nigerian public, and our friends in the diplomatic community and the lovers of democracy and rule of law that our people will not accept any attempt to impose illegality and anarchy on us.”

Adeleke, therefore, appealed “to Mr President, who is a renowned democrat, to insist on the rule of law by instructing the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of DSS, the Commandant General of the Civil Defence Corps not to obey an illegal order from his nephew, Mr Gboyega Oyetola.”

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“I call on Mr President, to instruct the National Security Adviser, and the Attorney General of the Federation, to personally verify the fact that the Court of Appeal judgment did not reinstate the sacked local government chairmen and councillors and the fact that there is a subsisting judgment of the court that sacked the chairmen and councillors produced by the 2022 local government polls.

“The Nigerian public should hold Mr Gboyega Oyetola and the Osun State security chiefs responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the state tomorrow, Monday, and beyond.

“It is unfortunate that the Osun state security chiefs are taking instructions from Mr Gboyega Oyetola just because he is the nephew of Mr. President. As much as we will do our best to maintain peace, we call on men and women of goodwill to intervene before it is too late,” Adeleke stated.

But while reacting, Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, dismissed the allegations and urged Adeleke to comply with the court order and give protection to the reinstated council chairmen and councillors.

Lawal, at a press conference held at Tinubu/Shettima House in Osogbo on Sunday, accused Adeleke of whipping up sentiments to seek undue public sympathy.

“As a responsible party, we have been civil and law-abiding; that is why we have been seeking every legal means to ensure that the law takes its due course,” Lawal said.

He described Adeleke’s press conference as “yet another media tactic to mislead members of the public in the state and beyond over his government’s continued disobedience to a valid appeal court judgment delivered on 10th February 2025 that reinstated the lawfully elected local government officers.”

Commenting in a similar vein, ex-governor Oyetola, in a statement made available to journalists in Osogbo, debunked the allegation that he was plotting to destabilise Osun State, saying his antecedents, pedigree and track records of public service in the last 15 years does not support Adeleke’s claim.

The former governor has appealed to his successor to respect the Appeal Court judgment, rather than resort to cheap blackmail, which has no place in the law.

“For the four years he governed Osun, he gave a good account of himself as a man of peace, a respecter of the rule of law and one not given to violence. If he is given to violence, he would certainly have fought back violently in 2022 when was brazenly rigged out.

“Again, in 2022, when Governor Ademola Adeleke employed extra-judicial means to sack democratically elected council officials, Oyetola as the leader of the party, never preached violence. Instead, he led the party members to court.

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“Thankfully, his party won at the appeal last week. And as a peace-loving leader, he appealed to security agencies to enforce the judgment of the court. How can such a man be accused of a destabilisation plot? I think anyone accusing Oyetola of violence needs to have his/her head properly examined.

“The minister is further seizing this opportunity to appeal to his successor to respect the appeal court judgment, rather than resort to cheap blackmail, which has no place in law,” the statement reads in parts.

Providing insight into the judgment of the Court of Appeal and it implications, Osun APC Legal Adviser, Mr. Adegoke Ogunsola, said Adeleke misled the public with his claims, urging security agencies not to allow the situation to degenerate into crisis.

Insisting that the appellate court did not only find the APC appeal meritorious but also allowed the appeal in a unanimous decision, which has sought, among others, reinstatement of the elected officers, Ogunsola also said that, “Neither the state government nor the Peoples Democratic Party finds any errors in the judgment in respect of which no any appeal was filed.”

“It is surprising, however, that the state government has begun to deploy so many tactics to avoid enforcement of the judgment which ought to be automatic. Governor Ademola Adeleke and his men had at the initial stage alleged that the judgment did not reinstate the sacked officers but after the colossal failure of this, they rushed to one other lower court judgment of the APP.

“The most disturbing aspect of it occurred when the whole governor of a state descended so low and falsely levelled unfounded allegations against the persons of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola and the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The governor unsuccessfully attempted to twist the express language of the judgment when he erroneously assumed the duty of the judiciary of interpretation of law. It is very much unfortunate when the governor further in a figment of imagination asserted that the minister was leveraging on a contrived relationship with the President to direct the law enforcement agents to act.

“Finally, the Inspector General of Police and all other security apparatus are called to ensure that the misleading information as released by the government is not allowed to degenerate into crisis as same are capable of inciting crises.”
(PUNCH)