Osun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Jimi Bada, stated that the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure did not reinstate the sacked local government officials in the state contrary to the claim by the Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Adegoke Ogunsola.
LEADERSHIP reports that different interpretations have been given to the verdict of the Appellate Court of Monday, February 10 in an appeal brought before it by the APC against the judgement of the High Court over the 2022 local government election.
The APC and PDP have differed on the verdict; while the APC said the Court reinstated the sacked elected council officials, the PDP and state government disagreed, saying the court only struck out the PDP’s case.
However, addressing newsmen at his office in Osogbo on Tuesday, the Attorney-General said the Court did not reinstate the sacked council officials.
“I want to confirm to you straight away that Court of Appeal Akure did not go into the merit of the Appeal launched by the APC before them, their finding was just that there was no cause of action as at the time PDP brought the suit against OSSIEC at the Federal High Court and what the Court of Appeal did was to strike out the originating summons filed by the PDP and that was all.
“Anybody can be interpreting what the court actually said, but the court did not at any point in time hold that any sacked local government Chairmen should go back to office. The Court of Appeal did not make that statement yesterday,” Bada said.
Responding, the National Secretary of the APC, Dr Ajibola Basiru described the Attorney-General’s claim as an affront to the rule of law, saying his position exposed the state government as an enabler of illegality.
According to him, the Court of Appeal judgment considered all grounds of appeal raised in CA/AK/270/2022 against the judgment of the Federal High Court presided over by Justice N. Ayo-Emmanuel, which had nullified the local government elections and ordered the elected officials to vacate office.
“In allowing the appeal, all the reliefs sought by APC were granted, including setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, and ordering the restoration of the sacked local government councils back to office”, he said.