Reps Wades into Osun State Local Government Crisis

Oluwakemi Kindness

The House of Representatives on Wednesday called on the Inspector General of Nigeria, the Director General of the Department of State Security and other security heads to immediately restore law, order, peace and tranquillity in Osun state.

The House at plenary unanimously resolved to wade into the Osun state local government crisis.

The House resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by 9 members of the House of Representatives from the state following the outbreak of violence in several parts of Osun state as a result of attempt to take over the administration of local governments by officials who were sacked by court judgement in November 2022.

The members are: Rep. Bamidele Salam; Rep. Oke Busayo Oluwole; Rep. AjilesoroTaofeek Abimbola; Rep. Omirin Emanuel Olusanya; Rep. Oladebo Lanre Alomoleye; Rep. Adewale Morufu Adebayo; Rep. Mudashiru Lukman Alani; Rep. Akanni Clement Ademola and Rep. Adetunji Abidemi Olusoji.

Moving the motion, Representative Bamidele Salam, who represents Ede north, Ede south, Egbedore and Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun state, said it is

disturbing that the sacked officials are now breaking the gates of their respective local government secretariat to forcefully take over the government of the local government without any court order.

He noted that the Governor of Osun State as the Chief Security officer of the state had raised an alarm on Sunday the 16th of February about an imminent threat to peace and security in the state while calling on the Inspector General of Police and other heads of Security formations to take proactive steps to forestall the violence.

The House is concerned that if the current trend of resort to self-help by political actors is not nipped in the bud, it might encourage citizens to do same in the face of perceived rights and privileges.

“Assured that the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Service and other security agencies have the capacity to restore normalcy to all the local governments of Osun State”, he added

The House is further assured that if Attorney General of the Federation as the chief law officer of the country can advise the parties, the tension in Osun state would be doused.