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The Appeal Court,
on Thursday, dismissed the application brought on behalf of the 33
local government chairmen elected and sworn-in at the tail end of the
administration of the former governor, Rasidi Ladoja, in Oyo State.

The appellate court
ruled in favour of the defendant on the ground that since their tenure
had expired before the appeal, there was no point looking at the merit
of the case.

The applicants were
elected on 24 May, 2007 and sworn in the following day. But their
elections were upturned immediately after Adebayo Alao-Akala took oath
of office as the state governor, and another set of elections, which
produced the incumbent chairmen in the state councils, were held.

The ground of the
fresh elections was based on an existing High Court order which
restricted the then Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC)
from conducting the original election.

Justice Iyabo
Yerima of the state High Court had acceded to the prayer of one Yinka
Olona and others, seeking to stop the OYSIEC from conducting the
election.

Since then, the two
elections have remained issues of litigation, and only climaxed
yesterday as the appellate court struck out the application to
reinstate the winners of the original election.

Chidi Uwa, who read
the lead judgement, said she was compelled to dismiss the application
because the term in question had expired and further examination of the
substantive matter would amount to mere academic exercise which would
not benefit any of the parties to the suit as well as the court.

Extinct rights

According to her,
all the record available before the court established the fact that the
election was held on 24 May, 2007 and that the elected officials were
sworn in the next day.

Among the records
was an affidavit deposed to by one of the applicants, which established
the fact that the tenure lapsed on 24 May. This, she added, assumed
that the three-year term of the elected officials started that time and
ended on 24 May.

The judge also
explained that the application of the applicant was brought before the
court in June, when the term had already expired.

“The rights of the
appellant as the chairmen of the local government have become extinct,
and the appellants are no longer in the position to lay claim to the
seats,” she said.

On the prayer by
the appellant to the court to allow them restart their tenure from the
day they were driven out of office and replaced by another set of local
government executives, the court held that: “The definite term cannot
be completed piecemeal, whether interrupted.”

Adesina Adeyemo,
who represented Akin Olujimi, counsel to the applicants, said he would
have to get the text of the judgment and meet with the lead counsel to
know whether or not they would proceed to the Supreme Court for further
action.

But Richard Ogunwole (SAN), counsel to the respondents, expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the matter yesterday.