APC Sues Osun Governor Adeleke, For Appointing Self As Commissioner

 The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken the State Governor Ademola Adeleke to court for appointing himself as the state’s Commissioner for Works.

The APC in the suit filed at the Osun State High Court in Osogbo, the state capital, also sued Osun State Deputy Governor, Kola Adewusi, over his appointment as the Commissioner for Sports and Special Needs.

Governor Adeleke while inaugurating his commissioners on July has gave himself and his deputy the portfolios.

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The APC, through its counsel Sherif Oluyombo, has urged the court to determine whether Mr Adeleke’s action of appointing himself and Mr Adewusi as commissioners is not a violation of Section 183 of the Nigerian constitution.

The party is also asking the court to determine whether “a state governor can… during the period when he holds office as governor, hold any other executive office.

The plaintiff while referencing Section 192(2) and (5) of the Nigerian constitution, prayed the court to determine whether “a person can be validly appointed a commissioner of the government of a state if his nomination is not forwarded to and received by the State’s House of Assembly for purposes of confirmation.”

The plaintiff who listed the Osun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and the Osun State House of Assembly as defendants, urged the court to declare Messrs Adeleke and Adewusi’s appointments as commissioners “unconstitutional.”

The APC also prayed the court to give an order “nullifying” Mr Adeleke’s “appointment of himself as the commissioner for works for Osun State for being invalid, null and void contrary to sections 183 and 192(2) and (5) of the Constitution…”

The party also prayed to the court to give an order “nullifying” the appointment of Mr Adewusi as the State commissioner for sports and special needs for being “invalid and contrary” to the constitution.

The plaintiff also urged the court to restrain Mr Adeleke from “parading himself and/or performing the functions of the office of the commissioner for works for Osun State while he holds the office of governor of the state.”

The APC in similar vein prayed the court to restrain Mr Adewusi from “parading himself as commissioner…until he is nominated as such by” by Mr Adeleke, and the former’s nomination goes through parliamentary screening for the “purposes of confirmation.”