Supreme Court Judgment: Drama As Mass Resignation Hits Osun, Over 400 Officials Vacate Their Posts

As a result of last week’s Supreme Court judgment granting local government autonomy, the 401 chairmen and members of the caretaker committees overseeing the 62 local governments and council development areas in Osun State tendered their resignations on Wednesday.

The Caretaker Chairman of Odo-Otin Local Government Area, Okuku, Adewale Adeyinka, resigned out of “respect for our democratic principles.”

In his resignation letter dated July 17, 2024, addressed to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Adeyinka stated, “It is with a sense of duty and respect for our democratic principles that I write to tender my resignation from my position as Chairman of the Caretaker Committee for Odo-Otin Local Government, effective immediately. As I move on to pursue further opportunities to serve my people, I want to assure you that the good work we have started will not end. I remain committed to supporting the growth and development of Odo-Otin Local Government in any capacity I can.”

The Supreme Court ruled that governors can no longer appoint caretaker committees to run local governments, stating that only duly elected officials can manage local governments. The court also declared that any local government run by caretakers should have their allocation from the Federation Account withheld.

Speaking on Wednesday, the immediate-past Chairman of the Osun State chapter of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, Sarafadeen Awotunde, confirmed that all 69 caretaker chairmen and 332 members in Osun State had resigned.

Awotunde stated, “Since we already called them caretakers, I don’t think there is any appropriate word to use other than that they resigned. Nobody sacked them. Caretakers have a temporary time to spend. It means their time is over. The Supreme Court has given a verdict. So, whatever is called caretaker now is illegal. There is nothing like a caretaker in Nigeria again.”

In Osun State, there are 30 Local Government Areas, 32 Local Council Development Authorities, six Area Councils, and one Administrative Office.

The last set of caretaker committee chairmen and members were appointed by Adeleke in August 2023, and their tenure was extended by six months in February 2024. Their tenure was supposed to end in August, but they tendered their resignation prematurely.

Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, confirmed the resignation of the LG caretakers. He said, “We have been receiving resignation letters. Those who resigned did so to be eligible for the party primary, preparatory for the local government elections coming up next year. The Electoral Act has made it mandatory for whoever will participate in the party’s primary to resign from political office first.”