Osun LG Tenure Suit: Court adjourns hearing to November 27
The Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, on Monday, adjourned hearing in a suit filed by reinstated All Progressives Congress, APC, chairmen and councillors seeking legal determination of their tenure of office.
The matter, which concerned the validity of local government elections conducted by Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration on February 22, 2025, was adjourned to November 27, 2025 for hearing.
The suit, numbered FHC/OS/CS/147/2025, was filed by Onibonokuta Saheed and seven others against the Attorney-General of the Federation and six other defendants.
The claimants are seeking a judicial clarification on whether their tenure of three years commenced from February 2025.
They also wanted the court to determine whether the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, could lawfully conduct local government elections on February 22, 2025 while their tenure was still subsisting.
DAILY POST is reporting that the lingering dispute over the tenure of local government officers in Osun State has remained a matter of public debate since the Court of Appeal reinstated the APC-elected chairmen and councillors on February 10, 2025.
During Monday’s proceedings, counsel for the claimants, Muhydeen Adeoye, filed a motion seeking an order restraining the defendants from interfering with the claimants’ discharge of duties pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Adeoye told the court that his “clients were being obstructed from performing their official functions despite the subsisting court pronouncement affirming their reinstatement.”
However, counsel for the 3rd and 4th defendants, Barrister F.K. Labo-Popoola, counsel for the 5th defendant, Rachael Ojomi, and counsel for the 6th defendant, Barrister J.A. Ayanyemi, argued that they were still within the statutory time frame to respond to the originating summons.
The defendants’ counsels requested that the “court allow them adequate time to complete their processes and file necessary responses before the hearing.”
Presiding judge, Honourable Justice Adefunmilola Demi-Ajayi, observed that service of court documents had not been fully completed on all parties to the suit.
Justice Demi-Ajayi, therefore, “directed that proper service should be effected on every party before the next sitting, to ensure fair hearing in line with due process.”
The judge assured both parties of the court’s commitment to the speedy resolution of the matter and subsequently adjourned the case to November 27, 2025 for hearing.