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The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that only the Supreme Court has the legal authority to nullify the February 10, 2025, ruling of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated its elected local government chairmen and councillors into office.
This declaration came in the wake of a fresh ruling by the Court of Appeal on June 13, 2025, which affirmed the dismissal of another appeal by the APC regarding the outcome of the 2025 local government elections in Osun State. The APC maintained that the June judgment did not override or invalidate the earlier February ruling in its favour.
IREPORT247NEWS reports that the Appeal Court, in its most recent decision, upheld the validity of fresh local government elections held across Osun State on February 22, 2025. The court recognized the new officials who emerged from that election as the duly elected and legitimate chairmen and councillors, effectively reinforcing the current leadership structure backed by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Delivering the judgment, Justice Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye emphasized that the conduct and outcome of the new elections had rendered prior disputes over the previously dissolved councils moot. The court held that the matter had become academic since fresh elections were conducted and new officials had already been sworn into office.
In response to this development, the APC, through its State Legal Officer, Chief Adegoke Ogunsola, issued a strongly worded statement on Monday. The party accused Governor Ademola Adeleke and the PDP of deliberately misleading the public and misrepresenting the legal implications of the June verdict.
Ogunsola argued that the June 13 judgment had no bearing on the legitimacy of the February 10, 2025 Court of Appeal ruling, which had reinstated APC’s elected council officials from the October 15, 2022, local government elections. He insisted that the only legal authority capable of overturning that judgment is the Supreme Court.
“Since Governor Adeleke and the PDP lost their grip on local government administration in Osun State through the February 10, 2025 Court of Appeal judgment, they have resorted to a variety of desperate tactics aimed at confusing the public and distorting the interpretation of both the January 13 and February 10 rulings,” the statement read.
Ogunsola also criticized the Adeleke administration’s reaction to the June 13 ruling, accusing it of using the recent court development as a platform for further propaganda. He claimed that the Court of Appeal’s refusal to relist the appeal by the Allied People’s Movement (APM) and APC was based on legal redundancy, as the same issues had already been decided in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022.
“The court’s refusal to revisit the appeal was because it had already ruled on the same legal grounds in February, reinstating our party’s officials elected in the October 15, 2022 elections. That judgment remains valid and binding until set aside by the Supreme Court,” he added.
The APC warned Governor Adeleke and his allies against what it described as attempts to take over local government administration by force, calling on law enforcement agencies and the public to disregard such efforts.
“We urge security agencies and well-meaning Nigerians to ignore these desperate and coercive attempts by Governor Adeleke and the PDP to subvert the rule of law and unlawfully seize control of grassroots governance in Osun State,” Ogunsola stated.
In a swift reaction, Governor Adeleke, through his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed, reiterated his administration’s commitment to resolving the ongoing local government crisis through lawful and peaceful means.
Rasheed emphasized that the court had now recognized the PDP’s chairmen and councillors, duly elected in the February 2025 polls, as the legitimate council executives. He added that the APC’s appeals had been lawfully dismissed, thereby validating the mandate of the PDP’s local government officials.