Osun LG Crisis: Reinstated APC LG Bosses Drag FG, State Govt to Court Over Tenure Extension
Amid the lingering local government crisis in Osun State, the reinstated executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have dragged the Federal Government, the Inspector General of Police, the Osun State Government, and others to court, seeking an extension of their tenure beyond its scheduled expiration in October 2025.
The APC officials, elected in October 2022, were sacked by Governor Ademola Adeleke after a Federal High Court nullified the election. However, in February 2025, the Court of Appeal reinstated them.
Despite this, PDP members were sworn in as council executives following the February 22 local government poll, leaving both parties laying claim to control.
Since then, local government workers under the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have been on strike, while federal allocations remain withheld.
In a fresh suit filed at the Federal High Court, Osogbo (FHC/OS/CS/147/2025), counsel Barrister Muhideen Adeoye, on behalf of Saheed Onibonokuta and seven other local government chairmen, asked the court to extend their tenure until February 19, 2028.
The defendants include the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, the Osun State Governor, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), and the State House of Assembly.
The claimants argued that, under the Constitution and Osun State laws, their tenure should legally commence only from the date they were inaugurated and assumed office as elected council members in February 2025—not from October 2022 when they were first elected but denied office.
They further contended that the conduct of fresh elections in February 2025 during their subsisting tenure was unlawful and an attempt to deprive them of their constitutional right to a full term in office.
The claimants sought eight declarations, including that OSIEC cannot validly issue a notice of polls, conduct elections into the councils, or swear in another set of members during the subsistence of their tenure. They also asked the court to nullify all steps taken by the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th defendants since February 22, 2025, and particularly in August 2025, to impose another set of individuals into the local government councils in Osun State.
They further prayed the court to declare that the Attorney General of the Federation acted ultra vires by prescribing and curtailing their tenure to end in October 2025, describing it as unconstitutional, illegal, null, and void to the extent that it shortened their tenure.
The claimants also requested that the AGF and IGP be mandated to provide necessary security to preserve, protect, and enforce their constitutionally and statutorily guaranteed tenure until February 19, 2028, when their three-year term will expire by effluxion of time.
Finally, they prayed the court to restrain Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Attorney General of Osun State, the House of Assembly, and OSIEC from taking any step to remove or force them out of office in October 2025 or anytime thereafter, until the lawful expiration of their tenure in February 2028.
