Osun LG polls: Lawyer writes Buhari, National Assembly, CJN, Others

An Osun based human rights lawyer, Barrister Kanmi Ajibola has warned that except the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is called to order, his conduct may snowballed into a serious constitutional crisis in the country.

The lawyer in a separate letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),  Justice Walter Onnoghen, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Idris Ibrahim and four others urged quick intervention on Osun matters before it gets out of hand.

In the letter dated 24^th November, 2017 and made available to CityMirrorNews in Osogbo, Ajibola explained that the insistence of Aregbesola and the State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) to conduct parliamentary elections at the Local Government (LG) level in Osun in spite of the on-going suit against such plan was a great threat to the nation’s democracy.

He said, “A mark of Constitutional breach anywhere in Nigeria is an established constitutional breach everywhere in Nigeria, and if allowed passively or actively, it goes to the constitutional founding of the Federal Republic which in every sense means the country founded on a violable constitution is not worthy of its birth.

“Since Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola assumed office as the governor of Osun State in November 2010, it has been one move of constitutional breach to the other in the course of his governance of the State.

Notwithstanding the position of the constitution and the Supreme Court decisions that established in plethora of cases that the LG must be democratically constituted, “it is a constitutional aberration to set up the constitution of the LG administration on a caretaker government”, but “in the last seven years, Aregbesola has been running the councils in the state on a caretaker government”.

He claimed that Aregbesola and the majority of lawmakers who are members All Progressives Congress (APC), “in a condemnable devastating connivance, they purportedly amended the Local Government (Administration) Law CAP 72A, VOL.4, Laws of Osun State 2002 to abrogate the right of people to directly contest an election into the office of Chairman of a local government council.”

“The abrogation having affected the right granted by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the people of Osun State, a legal action has been taken against same in the court of law, which will give a legal view on the propriety of the abrogation and other allied constitutional matters in issue”, he added.

Based on this and many other matters, Ajibola stated that he headed for court but regretted that in spite of these issues pending before the Court and the service of the Court processes on all the parties, Aregbesola insisted on going on the conduct of Local Government election on parliamentary system of Government.

He said, “Aregbesola’s insistence is against the position of law in Nigeria. The position of the law as substantiated by the Supreme Court in Ezegbu versus F.A.T.B is that, ‘once a party is aware of a pending Court processes and whether or not Court has given a specific injunctive order, parties are bound to maintain status quo pending the determination of the Court process”.

The effect of the governor’s persistence going ahead to conduct the LG election in Osun State without waiting for the directive of the Court having been a subject matter before it, according to Ajibola will surely snowball into a serious constitutional crisis in the country.