Chairmen and councillors elected in Saturday’s local government election in Osun State have been presented with their certificates of return.
A statement signed by the Information Officer, Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, Sadiat Isiaka, obtained in Osogbo on Sunday, said that the Commission’s chairman, Hashim Abioye, presented the council officials with their certificates.
OSSIEC had conducted the poll after the state government rejected advice from the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Inspector General of Police, Tunji Egbetokun, asking them to discontinue the exercise.
After Saturday’s election, Abioye had returned 332 councillors and 30 local government chairmen who contested the poll on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, elected.
The opposition’s All Progressives Congress, however, rejected the results, claiming the election did not hold in any part of the state to warrant the declaration of results.
Isiaka’s statement, while giving an update on the election, said Abioye “has presented Certificates of Return to the elected chairmen in the just-concluded local government election, held on Saturday, 22nd of February, 2025.
“The OSSIEC Chairman congratulated the elected chairmen on their victory, just as he urged them to be good ambassadors of democracy both in conduct and service to the people.
“OSSIEC had on Saturday announced candidates of the People’s Democratic Party as winners in both the 332 councillorship and the 30 local government chairmanship seats in the state.”
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Sunday directed chairmen on the party’s platform, who were purportedly reinstated by the Court of Appeal judgment of February 10, to resume duties in their respective local government secretariats on Monday.
It also urged them to disregard fake news circulating on social media, which advised them against resuming at their offices in the 30 local government secretariats across the state.
The party described the development as the handiwork of anti-democratic elements.
The disclosure was contained in a press statement issued by the APC’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to fake news on social media, orchestrated by a supposed democratic state government, claiming that the leadership of the APC in Osun State has directed its elected local government chairmen and councillors not to resume in their various local government council areas tomorrow.
“We want to inform the authentic, Court of Appeal-reinstated local government council chairmen and councillors that no such information came from the esteemed leadership of our party.
“It is the handiwork of reactionary elements who believe they can achieve their inordinate political ambitions through the dissemination of fake stories to confuse our focused, elected council bosses and chiefs.
“We want to make it abundantly clear that it is imperative for the elected APC local government chairmen and councillors to resume at their respective local government council areas to continue serving the deprived people at the grassroots level of government.
“The APC is a party founded on the rule of law, which is why the Court of Appeal judgment delivered at the Akure Division, Akure, Ondo State, on February 10, 2025, is the fundamental basis of your reinstatement.”
However, the APC urged the state Commissioner of Police, the State Director of the DSS, and the State Comptroller of Civil Defence to be on high alert to maintain peace in all local government council areas in the state.
The party also appealed to parents and guardians across the state to warn their children and wards against being recruited as political thugs by disgruntled and failed politicians who are determined to disturb the peace of the state.
