Femi Makinde, OsogboAn Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa has declared that the changing of the name of Osun State to the State of Osun by the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is illegal. Aregbesola had changed the name of the state from Osun State to State of Osun in 2011 but the NBA chairman, who is a human rights activists, had approached the court in 2016 and asked the court to declare as null all transactions done by the state with the name of State of Osun. The presiding judge 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 the Osun State House of Assembly going by the seventh scheduled of the 1999 Constitution. To re-order the name of Osun State as “State of Osun” is hereby declare as illegal, null and void. However, the state Attorney General disclosed at the court that the state government would appeal the verdict at the Court of Appeal.

Source: Punch December 15, 2017 00:00 UTC