The All Progressives Congress in Osun State and 19 candidates of the party in the forthcoming local government elections in the state have dragged the State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission before the court, following the disqualification of 19 of them from the proposed poll.
Also joined as a co-defendant in the suit is the Osun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Oluwole Jimi-Bada.
The APC and the 19 affected candidates, in suit No. Hos/184/2024, filed on their behalf by Mr Muhydeen Adeoye, challenged the refusal of OSSIEC to accept the substitution of their names, which led to their disqualification.
They subsequently asked the court to declare the processes leading to the February 2025 poll illegal, null and void.
They also urged the court to order the defendants to pay a sum of N100,000,000.00 in damages to them, in addition to tendering a written apology for the public embarrassment, humiliation, disturbance, and trauma caused to them over an attempt by OSSIEC to deprive the claimants of the opportunity to participate in the 2025 Local Government Elections in Osun State.
In the originating summons dated October 18, 2024, obtained in Osogbo on Saturday, the claimants alleged that the defendants failed to constitute the Local Government and Area Council Election Tribunal, which has shut the door of opportunity to challenge their pre-election grievances against the decision of OSSIEC to disqualify them from participation in the poll.
They insisted that not allowing the claimants to explore the opportunity of challenging their disqualification before a tribunal has rendered the processes conducted so far by OSSIEC in connection with the proposed 2025 Local Government Elections illegal.
It partly further read, “Whether, having regard to Sections 13, 15, and 24(1) of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission Law, 2022, the 1st Defendant has any power backed by law to amend a Notice of Elections already issued and published on 19th February 2024, midway into the 2025 Local Government Elections.
“Whether, having regard to the provisions of Sections 13, 15, and 24(1) of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission Law, 2022, and the tenor of the Supreme Court’s decision, the 1st Defendant’s Amended Notice of Elections, relied upon to deny the Claimants the right to participate in the February 2025 Local Government Council elections, is not invalid, null, and void, having failed to comply with the stipulated number of days required under the law.”
The claimants prayed the court for a declaration that all activities taken so far by OSSIEC are premature, illegal, null, and void, having led to their being denied the right of access to the tribunal over the Commission’s decisions against them.
They also sought a declaration that OSSIEC acted illegally by amending the Notice of the 2025 Local Government Elections issued on 19th February 2024, stating that the said Amended Notice of Elections should be declared illegal.