After Prolonged Tussle, Osun APC Yes/No Chairmen Take Over LG, LCDA Secretariats
By Our Reporter
The Executive Chairperson of Irewole Local Government, Hon. Dr. Esther Olujumoke Okunola, and the Chairman of Irewole Northeast Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Adeboye Opeyemi, have resumed official duties alongside members of their respective cabinets.
The chairmen, elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), resumed at the Irewole Local Government Secretariat Complex in Ikire on Thursday, August 27, 2026.
Their return to office comes against the backdrop of a prolonged political and legal dispute over the control of local government councils in Osun State, a crisis that has persisted since 2025 and at various points disrupted activities at council secretariats across the state.
The controversy reached a violent climax in February 2025 following a Court of Appeal judgment concerning the status of APC-elected local government chairmen and councillors. The judgment was interpreted by the APC as restoring the elected council officials who had been removed from office.
The development triggered attempts by APC council officials to return to their respective secretariats on February 17, 2025. In Ikire, the resumption attempt turned bloody as the then Irewole Local Government chairman, Remi Abass, was killed amid clashes involving supporters of the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The incident became one of the most tragic episodes in the wider Osun local government crisis, with violence also reported in other council areas as rival political groups disputed control of the secretariats. The state government subsequently ordered the lockdown of local government secretariats to prevent further bloodshed.
The legal controversy centred on competing claims over the validity of the 2022 local government elections and subsequent developments concerning the council administrations. The APC maintained that the Court of Appeal judgment had restored its elected chairmen and councillors, while the state government disputed the interpretation and relied on other legal proceedings concerning the councils.
The dispute also had wider consequences for local government workers and administration in the state, with council activities affected for an extended period. Reports in January 2026 indicated that local government workers had resumed duty after an 11-month industrial action linked to the crisis over control of the councils.
Against this background, Thursday’s resumption by Okunola and Opeyemi represents another significant development in the long-running struggle over grassroots administration in Irewole.
At the Irewole Local Government Secretariat Complex, the two chairmen resumed alongside their cabinet members, signalling the commencement of official administrative activities under the APC platform.
The development is expected to usher in a new phase of grassroots administration in Irewole and Irewole Northeast, with attention now expected to shift towards governance, service delivery and the implementation of programmes targeted at residents.
For residents of Ikire and surrounding communities, the resumption also comes with expectations that the prolonged political disputes that have affected local administration will give way to stability and effective governance.
The return of the chairmen therefore marks not merely an administrative resumption, but a new chapter in a local government struggle that has been characterised by court battles, competing claims to authority, political confrontation and, tragically, loss of lives.
