Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has called on President Bola Tinubu to caution Gboyega Oyetola, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, over an alleged plot to disrupt the state’s governance and cause chaos.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, Adeleke accused his predecessor of instructing the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to enforce a non-existent court ruling, which would involve forcibly reinstating local government chairmen.
Adeleke emphasized that the council chairmen had been dismissed before he assumed office, following two separate rulings by the Federal High Court in Osogbo, not through his executive orders, as claimed by some. He stressed that in a democracy, the rule of law must be respected, and those dissatisfied with a court’s decision should appeal to higher courts, all the way to the Supreme Court.
The governor urged President Tinubu to uphold the rule of law by instructing security agencies not to follow any illegal orders from Oyetola. He also requested that the National Security Adviser and the Attorney General of the Federation verify that the Court of Appeal did not reinstate the dismissed chairmen and councillors, and that the subsisting court judgment that removed them still stands.
In response, the Osun chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected Adeleke’s accusations, accusing him of trying to avoid following legal processes. APC spokesperson Kola Olabisi denied claims that Oyetola had given illegal directives to security agencies and accused Adeleke of resorting to blackmail rather than seeking legal recourse.
Olabisi insisted that the local government officials, who were removed in 2022, had been reinstated by the court and that Oyetola was committed to ensuring the ruling was carried out. He reiterated that the APC would remain law-abiding but would not back down from securing the implementation of the court’s verdict.
