Court Adjourns APC Chairmen’s Tenure Elongation Suit to November 27 Over Incomplete Service

The legal battle over the leadership of local government councils in Osun State continued today as a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo adjourned a suit seeking tenure elongation for the reinstated All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors. The case has been moved to November 27, 2025, to ensure that all parties in the contentious matter are duly served with court documents.

The suit, marked FHC/OS/CS/147/2025, was filed by the reinstated APC local council officials, led by Saheed Onibonokuta, against the Attorney General of the Federation, the Osun State Governor, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), and others.

The core argument of the claimants, who were elected in October 2022 but only reinstated by the Court of Appeal in February 2025, is that their statutory three-year tenure should legitimately commence from the date of their reinstatement in February 2025 and extend till February 2028. This directly challenges the expiration of their term, which is scheduled for later this month, October 2025, based on the original election date. They are also seeking the court to invalidate the subsequent local government elections conducted by the Governor Ademola Adeleke-led administration in February 2025.

At the Monday sitting, counsel for the claimants moved a motion seeking an injunction to restrain the defendants from interfering with his clients’ duties while the substantive suit is pending. However, legal representatives for the defendants argued that they were still within time to respond to the originating summons.

In her ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Adefunmilola Demi-Ajayi, stressed the need for an expedited hearing given the political nature of the matter. She, however, observed from the court records that the first two defendants—the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police—had not yet been served. Consequently, the court directed the claimants’ counsel to ensure proper service on all parties and adjourned the case to November 27, 2025, for further proceedings. The ongoing crisis has also seen the Osun State Government file a separate suit at the Supreme Court over the Federal Government’s alleged withholding of the state’s local government statutory allocations.