The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, told Governor Ademola Adeleke to stop misleading the public over the Court of Appeal judgment, which purportedly reinstated sacked local government chairmen elected on the platform of the party.

The opposition party maintained that the tactic being deployed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government in the state to hoodwink members of the public over its continued disobedience to the court judgment delivered on February 10, 2025, will fail.

This was contained in a statement forwarded to journalists in Osogbo by the APC’s Director of Media and Information, Mr. Kola Olabisi.

The statement said: “Rather than appreciate the legal and lawful means being adopted by the APC and the elected officers in venting their grievances, it is worrisome that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s government has chosen to instigate unsuspecting members of the public against the APC.”

Describing Adeleke’s call on President Bola Tinubu regarding the warning of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, against causing violence in Osun as ridiculous, the party contended that “disobedience to a court judgment is not only laughable but disappointing, more so that such is coming from a government that has a duty to respect the rule of law.”

The statement reads: “The mischief was taken too far when they surreptitiously hid the fact that the same Federal High Court judgment in the APP case is still a subject of litigation at the Appeal Court, and they also concealed the fact that they did not appeal the judgment of the Appellate Court of February 10, 2025. There is no court order that directs that the Appeal Court judgment should not be obeyed.

“All they desperately want to achieve is to illegally conduct a local government election on February 22, 2025, into the same offices, which they know are not vacant with the new development of February 10, 2025.

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“The good people of Osun State are really disturbed by the desperation of the government and its appointed highly controversial OSSIEC Chairman, Hashim Abioye, over their sole aim of conducting the election and their having no concern about the most likely consequences of such illegal elections.

“Such a devilish desperation is obviously suggestive of the need for them to continue to feign ignorance of the importance of obeying the Appeal Court judgment but rather go ahead to conduct the elections and damn the consequences.

“The good people of Osun State are vigilant and will ensure that by all legal means, public funds are not, under any subterfuge, looted or allowed to disappear into private purses under the pretense that the funds are spent to conduct an illegal election.

“The appeal of APP that was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, which PDP and OSSIEC want to rely on, was never heard on the merit, and a motion to relist it for the purpose of hearing and judgment, like the one of February 10, 2025, is still pending.

“We are now using this medium to call on President Bola Tinubu, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and all other security services that Governor Adeleke, Hashim Abioye, and others in the same shoes must not be allowed to create crises where there are none.

“The Osun State government should not feel too big to respect the sanctity of the Appeal Court judgment of February 10, 2025, as it is valid and binding on all persons and authorities until the same is set aside by the Supreme Court,” the statement added.