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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Osun State House of Assembly has said the local government chairmen and councillors elected in the October 15 election should be allowed to continue in office since the judgement nullifying their elections had been appealed.
The resolution was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo by the Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Assembly, Kunle Alabi, on Wednesday.
The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) had in a statement issued on Monday by its Executive Secretary, Adedapo Adejumo, announced the withdrawal of Certificates of Return issued to the elected council officials, adding that it will not appeal the judgement of the Federal High Court that sacked them.
But the Assembly said it arrived at the resolution that the sacked council officials should remain in office during a plenary when its Speaker, Timothy Owoeye, briefed members on the outcome of a private meeting held with the governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
“On the issue of LG administration, Owoeye informed the plenary of a notice of appeal against the decision of a Federal High Court judgement 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,” the statement read in part.
Quoting Owoeye while addressing his colleagues, the statement said: “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.”
