Justice A.A. Aderibigbe of the Osun State High Court, Ilesa division, has ordered that the local government election scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2025, go ahead.

The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Alimi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, hours after the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, advised that the exercise be suspended.

Mr Fagbemi relied on the February 2025 judgment by the Akure Division of the Appeal Court, which nullified the November 2022 judgment of the Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State.

However, Justice Aderibigbe ordered the Osun State Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) to conduct the elections across 30 local government areas.

Mr Aderibigble also mandated all security agencies, including the Amotekun Corps and the National Drugs and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), to provide adequate security during and after the exercise.

The judge who ordered that the claimants’ claim succeeds also granted three reliefs and orders:

“An order of this honourable court is granted, recognising the existing vacancies across all the 30 local government areas of Osun State, the election conducted by the first defendant on 15 October 2022, having being invalidated, nullified and voided, and the purported elected officials produced by the purported election having been sacked by the Federal High Court FHC/CS/OS/103/2022; in Action Peoples Party (APP) Vs Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and ors. delivered on 3 November 30 2022, and as confirmed by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/AK/226M/2024, Allied People Movement (APM) & ORS vs Action Peoples Party (APP) & ORS delivered on 13 January 2025.

“An order of this honourable court is granted, directing, mandating and compelling the defendants to fill the vacancies across the 30 local government areas of Osun State through a democratic process by proceeding to conduct the local government elections already scheduled by the defendants for 22 February 2025.

“An order of this honourable court is granted, directing, mandating and compelling all the security agents comprising of the Nigeria Police, the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the National Drugs and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Amotekun Corps, the Vigilante Groups etc. to provide adequate security and maintain peace and order before, during and after the local government election scheduled by the Defendants for 22 February 2025 in Osun State.”

Speaking at a press briefing at the government house, the state’s attorney general, Wole Jimi Bada, expressed the state government’s resolve to obey the ruling.

“The judgement is explicit enough, and I call on all stakeholders to participate in the elections. We must remain peaceful as we exercise our voting rights in compliance with the court rulings,” Mr Bada added.