Tension in Osun over NULGE election
Abimbola Abatta, Osogbo
There was palpable tension among the members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Osun State chapter on Monday as heavy security was present at the state secretariat of the union due to the local election scheduled to hold on Tuesday.
Operatives of Nigeria Police, men of the Department of State Service (DSS), Civil Defence, Osun State Joint Task Force (JTF) and Amotekun barricaded the NULGE state secretariat in Osogbo.
It was learnt that the election scheduled for Tuesday may be on hold over a disagreement among some members of the union.
Governor Gboyega Oyetola had sometimes last month summoned the leadership of NULGE in Osun and the National President, Comrade Ambali Akeem to meeting to settle their crisis and gave three months ultimatum to hold the election.
The national body, with the resolution of the meeting with the governor, picked Tuesday for NULGE local government branch election while the state election was scheduled for June.
A faction in the union led by the current President of the NULGE in Osun state, Engr Adeyeye Jacob, whose tenure ended in 2020 but was elongated, insisted that election should not hold due to a court injunction against NULGE and restrained it from conducting any sort of election in Osun State chapter.
On Monday, three aspirants for the position of the State President of NULGE, Comrade (Dr.) Alimi Adegboyega Oyediran, Comrade Isafiade Adewuyi and Comrade Tirimisiyu Adedayo Adekunle (D.Y.) withdraw from the conduct.
A statement jointly signed by the aspirants said they believe that the due process for the conduct of the upcoming Local Government Branch Elections has been compromised.
The trio declared that they lost faith in the electioneering process due to “some actions – going on in the state of recent.”
“The steps taken so far lack genuineness and credibility in its entirety and we are of the firm belief that the outcome of the election, judging from all the surrounding events so far, such as the hurried manner in which the Local Government Branches election is to be conducted, and the short time allowed for aspirants to obtain nomination forms and campaign for the elective positions point to the fact that the result of the election is already predetermined and candidates have already been programmed to emerge regardless of the choice of the electorate.
“Furthermore, it is now a known fact that the National body of our Union, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has been bought by some influential persons in Government with whims and caprices and our members are intimidated on daily basis, thereby causing a play down on their choice of candidate in the purported upcoming election.”
However, the state President of NULGE, Adeyeye while leading a protest to the Secretariat on Monday made “No election” order to the members of the union saying “We will not break law; we will defend the law. That’s our stand.
“My demand from the Governor is for peace to reign, I am giving the Governor my word. Immediately the court resume, I will withdraw my case and other aggrieve tactic. They should call them and appeal to them and after that probably from end of April to middle of July, the election will probably hold by September.”
