The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the leadership of the ruling party in the state as a bunch of jesters and unrepentant agents of misinformation and disinformation fondly misleading the innocent members of the public in particular, the diplomatic community and the global rights groups in general, on the true story about the local government allocations in the state.
The state PDP in a statement signed by its chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, purportedly dragged the Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola before global rights groups and diplomatic community for allegedly disobeying the court order on the Osun Local Government Councils’ allocations.
The PDP accused the duo of *’plotting and executing the current local government crisis in Osun State through deliberate disobedience of a Court of Appeal judgment recognizing PDP elected chairmen and councillors and through callous withholding of local government allocations for the past five months’.*
It is a pity that the Osun State PDP could expose itself to the diplomatic community and the global rights groups that the local government councils’ allocations are being withheld by the duo of Mr Fagbemi and Alhaji Oyetola when nothing of such is happening.
We want to plead with the diplomatic community and the global rights groups to discountenance the ranting of the Osun State PDP over the local governments’ allocations which had been decided by the Court of Appeal in its judgment of the 10th of February, 2025 which duly reinstated the APC local government council chairmen and councillors.
We want to inform the diplomatic community and the global rights groups that it is not true that anyone or governmental institution is withholding the local government councils’ allocations as the true owners of the funds are on the process of collecting the said allocations.
The Osun State PDP needs not to misinform the diplomatic community and the global rights groups in order to ambush the judgment of the Court of Appeal of the 10th of February, 2025 which reinstated the council chairmen and their councillors.
The PDP leadership should disclose to the diplomatic community and the global right groups that they are fraudulently crying to why they refused to appeal the 10th February, 2025 judgment which gave victory to the APC chairmen and why they are on the verge of withdrawing a litigation in the Supreme Court on the matter.
One wonders why Osun State PDP is performing the role of a meddlesome interloper as it is not even an interested party in the case through the judgment of the Supreme Court which has given unconditional autonomy to the running of all the local government council areas in the country over one year ago.
Why did it elude the memory of the PDP chairman that the state government is indebted to the tune of N84 billion being the total sum of the allocations it fraudulently collected from the allocations of the local government councils in the state for some months in contravention of the order of the Supreme Court?
We understand the plight of the sunk Osun State PDP for coming around with such a frivolous, unfounded and fabricated allegation against the two eminent Nigerians as being responsible for their woes as it’s a mere ploy to keep the scattered and hopeless members of the party together.
It is not true that the allocations of the Osun State are being withheld and it is a fallacy that two ministers are behind their woes.
The diplomatic community and the global rights groups are products of the rules of the laws and none of them would encourage anyone to disobey the judgement of the Court of Appeal that reinstated the state APC as the leadership of the ruling party and Governor Adeleke are doing in Osun State where they gerry pick the court order to obey.
The Osun State PDP leadership should know that none of the organizations they reported Fagbemi and Oyetola to is a court of law. The PDP will gain nothing from writing the thrash.
In Nigeria, the distinction between Municipal Law and International Law is very clear. Laws made in Nigeria, as well as obedience or disobedience to them and local courts fall under Municipal Law. International Agencies have nothing to do with them, not to talk of International NGOs.
The procedure to be adopted if a court order is disobeyed for issues not related to money payment is clearly spelt out in Order 13, Sheriffs and Civil Process Act(Judgement Enforcement Rules) 2004 – you file Form 48: “Notice of Consequence of disobedience to Order of Court” – you file form 49: “Notice to show cause why order of attachment should not be made” – you file a motion for committal for contempt of court. Nowhere is it said that you will write International NGOs.
If the the PDP handlers are quite convinced that Alhaji Oyetola and Mr Fagbemi actually disobeyed court orders, they know what to do and they should stop deceiving themselves and beclouding the faces of their gullible members.
Writing petitions to NGOs is a waste of time. They have no jurisdiction. The PDP knows it has no case; that is why they refused to go to the Supreme Court or to file the necessary statutory forms.
e-SIGNED:
*Mogaji KOLA OLABISI, Osun State APC Director of Media and Information.*
