An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa has declared that the change of name to “State of Osun” by Gov. Rauf Aregbesola is illegal, null and void.

Delivering the judgment on Thursday, Justice
Yinka Afolabi ruled that the law and its
makers were unknown to the 1999
Constitution. Delivering judgment which lasted more than one hour, the judge chided Aregbesola for deliberately and singlehandedly renaming the state, contrary to the known norms and the nation’s constitution.

He also declared that the makers of the law,
who are currently serving as members of the
State House of Assembly, were not sworn in
as members of the “State of Osun House of
Assembly” but as members of Osun State
House of Assembly going by the seventh schedule of the constitution.

The judge said that since the creation of the
state in 1991, previous governments used
the constitutionally envisaged name of Osun
State. All the other 35 states of the federation, he added, had not deviated from the
constitutional names given to them.

“The executive governor of the state
changed the name in 2011. The renaming of a state goes further and deeper for anyone to singlehandedly do.

“To re-order the name of Osun State
as “State of Osun” is hereby declared
as illegal, null and void.

“On the oath of allegiance, I want to
state that the Seventh Schedule is part
of the law. “It is not a mere draft or mere oath. It does not give room for any alteration.

After deposing to an oath of office,
you cannot turn around to do otherwise,’’ Afolabi stated. The judge threw out all the arguments by the State Attorney-General, Dr Basiru Ajibola, who stood in as counsel for the governor and the state government.

He, however, granted all the seven prayers of the plaintiff.

Source: www.jaynaija.com/court-says-governors-state-of-osun-is-illegal/