The Saturday local government election in Osun State has come to an end due to pressure from some to suspend the election and a fear of electoral violence.
In some local governments, the exercise sat until 8 am, including the governor’s district of Ede North, where the exercise took place.
After casting his ballot, the governor called on the state’s citizens to come out and cast ballots peacefully. He described the procedure as peaceful.
READ ALSO:  , Gov. Adeleke Casts Vote In LG Poll, Describes Exercise Peaceful
As the exercise proceeded smoothly, viewers were spotted casting their ballots in some of the polling stations.
Voting is ongoing at Baptist Pry school, Awo, unit 1 ward 1 Egbbedore LGA Osun state#CTVTweets pic. twitter.com/o4Y02fRYkQ
Around 3 p.m. on Saturday, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission confirmed that the voting had ended and that results had been collated and released.
As voting concludes across polling units in the state, collation and announcement of results is currently ongoing #OsunLGElectionDay2025
AGF, Police call for suspension
Lateef Fagbemi, the Nigerian Police Force, and the Federation Attorney General had demanded that the exercise be suspended.
The police cited a security threat while the AGF relied on a contentious Court of Appeal decision, which claimed reinstated the earlier sacked local government chairmen and councillors.
According to the justice minister, the Court of Appeal, Akure division, on February 10, 2025, nullified the judgement of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, delivered on November 25, 2022.
The appellate court’s decision, according to the AGF, implied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) local council chairmen had been reinstated following their sacking by the lower court.
In response, the Police claimed it had received reliable information that indicated there were potential for violence and significant security threats in the event of the planned elections.
The police  explained in a statement that Olumuyiwa Adejobi, its public relations officer, had discovered that various groups, including political parties and other interested parties, were organising to cause unrest, stifle public order, and undermine the democratic order.
“Elections must continue.”
The Osun State government, however, steadfastly contested the election, saying it did not want to violate a court order mandating the holding of the elections.
The Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, in a statement, said the government will not go against the rule of law.
The service is regrettably following its partisan agenda by actively challenging the rule of law as advocated by today’s court ruling, instead of the police obeying the court order.
The Osun state government’s support of the state electoral commission’s decision to conduct a credible free and fair elections tomorrow follows the statement that “if the police choose to disobey court orders, the government of that state will not go against the rule of law.”
“We thank the police for their advice. We respectfully declined the request, and we urge Osun voters to exercise their right to vote on Saturday in a peaceful manner,” the statement read in part.
Ilesa-based Osun State High Court is currently under the leadership of Justice A. A voter-approved election order was issued by an aderibigbe earlier that year to fill the 30 local government chairmen and councillors’ seats in the state.
Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the APC has backed out of the election.
Source: Channels TV
Leave a Reply