Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Yinka Afolabi of Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa, declared the renaming of ‘Osun State’ to “State of Osun” by Gov. Rauf Aregbesola as illegal, null and void. According to the Judge who chided Mr. Aregbesola and makers of the law; members of the State House of Assembly, the change of name and its makers were unknown to the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, the Governor and makers of the law 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 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,’’ Mr. Afolabi said.
According to NAN, the change of name was reportedly challenged by an activist, Kanmi Ajibola.