Osun Council Elections: APM Chairman Says Only Supreme Court Can Upturn February 2025 Rulling.

Hon.  Adebayo Wale Simon , Chairman of the APM in Osun State, issued a statement on Friday, responding to reports of a letter allegedly authored by prominent lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN). 

The controversy surrounding the legality of local government elections in Osun State has deepened, as the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) declared that only the Supreme Court can overturn the Court of Appeal’s February 10, 2025 judgment that reinstated the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors.

Hon. Wale Adebayo, Chairman of the APM in Osun State, issued a statement on Friday, responding to reports of a letter allegedly authored by prominent lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN). 

The letter, reportedly addressed to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Central Bank of Nigeria, and others, called for enforcement of a June 13, 2025 Court of Appeal judgment, which Ozekhome allegedly cited as grounds to recognise PDP candidates purportedly elected in the February 22, 2025 local government polls.

But Adebayo described the letter as misleading and based on a misunderstanding — or misrepresentation —of the legal status of the local council positions in Osun State.

Setting out the complex legal history, Adebayo outlined how the courts had handled disputes over local government elections in Osun State:

The Federal High Court, in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/94/2022 (PDP), delivered a judgment on November 25, 2022, nullifying certain council elections. That judgment was enforced on November 27, 2022. On November 30, 2022, another Federal High Court decision in Suit No. FHC/OS/103/2022 (APP) purportedly re-nullified the same elections.

Notices of appeal were filed in respect of both judgments. However, the appeal arising from the APP suit was abandoned and subsequently struck out on January 13, 2025, due to failure to compile and transmit records to the Court of Appeal.

Crucially, Adebayo emphasized that the Court of Appeal, on February 10, 2025, in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022, ruled in favor of the APC, restoring the previously sacked chairmen and councillors, while awarding costs of ₦250,000 against the PDP.

He expressed concern over misinformation being spread among the public, particularly by political actors claiming that the June 2025 ruling nullified the reinstatement of the APC chairmen and councillors.

The APM chairman further criticised Ozekhome for suggesting that the February 10 judgment did not make consequential orders reinstating the APC officials, calling such an assertion legally unsound.

The statement reads in part; “The letter annexing the CTC of the June 13th, 2025 Appeal Court judgment has called for enforcement of the judgment so that the products of the ruse masquerading as local government elections purportedly held on 22nd February, 2025, would storm the councils.

“Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) is one of the lawyers reputed to be very gentle and brilliant in their chosen career, and that is why we are, in a hurry, doubtful of the veracity of the letter credited to him. To set the record straight, in order not to allow innocent members of the public to go astray over the publication, this response becomes imperative.

 “First and foremost, the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) is a party to the APP suit and appeal.

 “The letter has obviously exposed the writer as one who is either not fully briefed on the facts of the matter or has insufficient understanding of the legal intricacies involved.

“The following facts, as stated below, remain undisputable: judgment in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/94/2022 (PDP) was delivered and enforced on the 25th and 27th of November, 2022 respectively, and there were no elected council officers as of 30th November, 2022, when the judgment in Suit No. FHC/OS/103/2022 (APP) was delivered, purportedly re-nullifying the elections which the judgment delivered in the PDP suit had already nullified."

He continued: “Notices of Appeal were filed in respect of the two suits, and one was prosecuted to a logical conclusion, while the other one (APP), in which the Osun Allied Peoples’ Movement was one of the appellants, was tactically abandoned. On the 13th of January, 2025, the notice of appeal filed on 2nd December, 2022, in respect of the APP judgment of 30th November, 2022, was struck out for want of prosecution because records were not compiled and transmitted to the Court of Appeal in respect of the notice of appeal. This is what some PDP members, also parroted by some commentators, describe as an appeal.

“There was no appeal, and that is why the motion leading to the ruling striking out the APP notice of appeal on 13th January, 2025, was given a miscellaneous number as CA/AK/226m/2024, and this legal position was also stated in the ruling delivered on 13th June, 2025.

“While these same people, mostly from the ruling party in the state, began to make unintelligible noise over the dismissal of the notice of appeal, one of the appellants in the APP judgment filed a motion on the 23rd of January, 2025, to have the appeal relisted. However, the APP and Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), which conducted the election, did not file any defence to it until after 10th February, 2025, when they rushed to file a defence to the relisting sought.

“Fortunately, on 10th February, 2025, judgment was delivered in the first one appealed by the APC, that is, Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022, and the appeal, which also included restoring the elected officers in the councils, was allowed, and costs of two hundred and fifty thousand naira (₦250,000) were awarded against the PDP, while the OSSIEC was seriously reprimanded in the judgment.

“Judgment in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022 was enforced on 17th February, 2025, and there was no vacancy in the councils as of 22nd February, 2025, when the same OSSIEC, chaired by a known PDP chieftain, mischievously claimed to have purportedly staged local government elections, which are now ridiculously sought to be recognized by the Silk via his doubtful publication.

“Meanwhile, on 13th June, 2025, the Court of Appeal held that the motion was incompetent and ought to be struck out as such. However, the Court of Appeal dismissed the application, noting that although they had power to relist it, they went further to state that relisting the appeal would create confusion, review, or sit on appeal of its own earlier decision.

“This well-considered judgment, further dignified by the Court of Appeal on 13th June, 2025, was the one delivered on 10th February, 2025, in Appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022, which led to the APC chairmen and councillors’ resumption of office on 17th February, 2025.

“Meanwhile, the motion for relisting in the APP appeal, which was struck out on 13th June, 2025, sought only one prayer (relistment), which was refused on very noble and sound grounds rooted in settled legal principles.

“One is disturbed when some unlettered politicians throng the streets and begin to rumour that one judgment had sacked the reinstated APC chairmen and councillors, and that some lawyers joined in this pathetic voyage, making the whole boring movie more worrisome.

“The very big question should be, who among the parties ever sought a court pronouncement over any local government elections in Osun State, more so that the purported elections never existed as of 23rd January, 2025, when the motion for relisting was filed before the Court of Appeal?

“The author of the publication ought to further state the holding of the Court of Appeal on that same 13th June, 2025, on the defence the APC put in when the PDP sought a court pronouncement in the ruling on the purported 22nd February local government election. No answer exists because such never formed part of the issues submitted to the Court of Appeal for ruling.

“The author must prepare to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians, having surreptitiously sought to lure the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice to act contrary to the AGF’s earlier sound and legal opinion made on 20th February, 2025, opposing the illegally planned local government elections by the same OSSIEC, which was thoroughly lambasted by the Court of Appeal on 10th February, 2025, in its decision which the court refused to review on 13th June, 2025.

“It is very important that, to date, no appeal has been filed by the same PDP over the 10th February, 2025 Court of Appeal judgment, and unless the author is prepared to state that the Court of Appeal can review its decision or that the Federal High Court decision in APP is superior to the Appeal Court decision—which was held to be on the same issues, between the same parties, and before the same judex on 13th June, 2025—he must not be taken seriously.

“The author has asserted that ‘The Court of Appeal in the said CA/AK/270/2022 never made any consequential order for the reinstatement of the APC Chairmen/Councillors as it did not even pronounce on the propriety or otherwise of the election, it being a mere academic exercise. So, no such order exists till date.’

“However, the author should be bold enough to equally state the effect of when the appellate court states that a lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear a matter, as in the instance of the PDP appeal. Is it not commonsensical that all that the lower court held or ordered disappears along with the judgment? So, finding the appeal to be meritorious and accordingly allowing the same would mean that the lower court’s order of 25th November, 2022, sacking the reinstated elected officers, remains? I doubt if that is the law being taught in law school based on the finding made by one law graduate.

“Meanwhile, this young law graduate has directed that the Supreme Court decision in Chief Bola Ige vs. Dr. Victor Olunloyo might be helpful. Truly, it was found that the Supreme Court indeed stated in that judgment that a judgment of an Appeal Court, allowing an appeal, has the effect of substituting the Appeal Court judgment for the judgment of the Court below set aside, making the decision appealed against disappear altogether. The law graduate further advised us to be guided by other similar decisions in that line.

“Similarly, the author erroneously maintained that having dismissed the motion for relisting by the majority decision of the Court of Appeal, Akure Judicial Division, on the 13th of June, 2025, the removal of all the 30 APC chairmen/councillors is established, and recognition given to the purported election of the 30 PDP chairmen/councillors. The author, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), concealed a fact. The fact is that all he stated is his own personal opinion, not contained in any of the rulings, and it is incorrect from our further findings from some law diploma holders.

“Some lawyers have argued that the Supreme Court has stated that dismissal of a plaintiff’s claim does not automatically confirm judgment to the winning party. They advised us to read Anwoyi v. Shodeke and Laminu v. Maidugu.

“From the foregoing, it is important we refrain from making utterances capable of misleading the public, and where we must, proper and adequate research must be done. This will definitely save us from public embarrassment, especially where a court says ‘A’ and we go to the public to say ‘B,’ as in the instant case when the Court of Appeal delivered a ruling on 13th June, 2025, in Appeal No. CA/AK/15/2025, and people storm out and tag the same as a judgment contrary to what is stated on page 2 of the ruling itself—unless we do not understand the difference between a ruling and a judgment.

“We use this medium to state that it is only the Supreme Court that can overturn or review the well-considered judgment of 10th February, 2025."