It’s quite unfortunate that someone of Otunba Iyiola Omisore status could show a defective understanding of the law in the manner he did on Arise TV yesterday. I can understand his limitations as a politician but I’m worried that he failed to have proper guidance from lawyers before going on the television to misrepresent the law.
For a starter, it is patently false that the Court of Appeal reinstated the court-sacked YES or NO. Even more, the Court of Appeal in a ruling delivered on June 13, 2025, effectively affirmed the nullification of the October 15, 2022 local governments election and asserted the sack of beneficiaries.
So, it is not only ludicrous, but a gross misunderstanding of the law for anyone to assume benefit on people whose sack by the court is yet to be reversed. The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), which is the premier body of every legal practitioner in the country echoed these clear provisions of the law in its most recent intervention through a letter sent to the AGF.
This is why I find it laughable that Omisore would subject himself to ridicule by wrongly inferring reinstatement and even suggesting that the tenure of the YES or NO officials starts from February 2025. Even the partisan AGF clearly indicated that their tenure ends on October 15, 2025, in his sentimental advisory.
The tenure of elected officials began the moment of swearing-in, no matter what happens in between and this position of law was established by the Supreme Court in a January 2012 verdict that sacked five Governors. Governors Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Idris (Kogi) and Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto) were removed by the apex court for staying beyond the time permitted by the Constitution.
The apex court panel led by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher interpreted Section 180(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to hold that tenure of elected officials are defined and begins to count from the day of their swearing-in. “It is settled law that the time fixed by the constitution for the doing of anything cannot be extended. It is immutable, fixed like the rock of Gibraltar. It cannot be extended, elongated, expanded, or stretched beyond what it states,” Justice Walter Onnoghen, who later became the CJN, held in a unanimous decision of the apex court.
It’s therefore the height of ignorance or perhaps, an overdose of IMPUNITY, for anyone to assume that the tenure of the court-sacked YES or NO officials started to count in February 2025. More so, they were never reinstated to even talk about when their tenure ends. Their tenure ended the moment invalidated the election that produced them as it is a settled law that no one can benefit from a voided process.
Osun APC, and by extension, Otunba Omisore should desist from actions that threaten our democracy as the Constitution and the rule of laws are the pillar on which democracy rests. This is exactly what the APC is viciously assaulting in Osun state with the deliberate twist of clear judicial pronouncements and attack on the rule of laws.
