Chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, Hashim Abioye, has asserted that the Commission is neither under pressure nor facing any legal impediments that would affect the planned timetable for the February 2025 local government elections.
This statement comes in the wake of recent developments following the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 11, 2024, which granted full autonomy to local governments.
In a statement issued on Friday in Osogbo by his spokesperson, Yemi Badru, Abioye addressed concerns that the Supreme Court’s decision might influence the election schedule. He clarified, “Notice of election goes to the very root of the election. Any defect in the notice will knock off the election as it will lack any valid foundational basis.”
Abioye emphasized that the OSSIEC’s notice of election, issued on February 19, 2024, adheres to legal requirements. “The notice we have given was in line with the law. Both the Electoral Act, 2022 and OSSIEC Law, 2022 provide for at least 360 days before the date of the election. This we have done since February, 2024. We are therefore in a good stead to go ahead with our activities.”
He dismissed claims of undue pressure, stating, “There is no pressure anywhere. Where is the pressure? I will want reasonable people and discerning minds to take an excursion to the notice we issued and published on 19th February this year.”
Abioye also refuted suggestions that the Supreme Court judgment had undermined the authority of state electoral commissions. “Let anyone show me any subsisting court order prohibiting state electoral bodies from conducting or further conducting local council elections in their respective States. As far as OSSIEC is concerned, the radar is clear. Some people are deliberately misinforming the public or ignorantly postulating that today’s Supreme Court judgment has stripped the SIECs of their constitutionally guaranteed electoral mandate. There is nothing of such.”
He further explained that the judgment in question had addressed issues related to the notice of election under the previous administration. “In the case of OSSIEC, it is the judiciary that sacked purported council officials under the immediate past administration in Osun State that have appealed the judgment. And worse for them, there were two judgments of the same Federal High Court that sacked them, they appealed one, which is still pending, the other one they left unappealed.”
Abioye assured that the election process would proceed as scheduled, with political party primaries set to occur between July 22 and August 6, 2024. “By the timetable/schedule of activities issued by the Commission, conduct of political party primaries is slated to hold between 22nd July, 2024 and 6th August, 2024, and mandatorily, any political party willing to participate in the election must give at least 21 days notice to the Commission to monitor their primaries. In line with the timetable, political parties have started picking dates and notifying the Commission about their respective primaries.”
He concluded by reiterating his commitment to a lawful and orderly electoral process, stating, “The said notice, timetable/schedule of activities was issued at a time the recently determined local council autonomy suit had not been conceived not to talk of being filed at all, before the Supreme Court. You can see the difference. We are not desperate, and as I have always promised, we will not falter on the side of the law in the process of the election.”
