OSUN ASSEMBLY TO OSUN APC: STOP MISINTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION, YOU CAN TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE IN THE COURT OF LAW

The Osun State House of Assembly has advised the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to desist from its apparent misinterpretation of the 1999 Constitution, particularly its provisions relating to Local Government Councils and the legislative powers of the State House of Assembly.

The Assembly’s attention has been drawn to a statement issued by the Osun APC and signed by its Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, describing the recently passed Osun State Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill, 2026 as a “legislative harakiri”, “unenforceable” and a “recipe for crisis”, and demanding its withdrawal.

The position expressed by the APC is fundamentally flawed which appears to have arisen from a selective reading of Section 7 of the Constitution without a proper appreciation of the constitutional relationship between the State and Local Government Councils.

Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the system of democratically elected Local Government Councils and expressly provides that the Government of every State shall ensure their existence under a law providing for their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions.

The implication is straightforward: the Constitution deliberately places the legislative framework for the establishment, structure, finance and functions of Local Government Councils within the State legal architecture. It is therefore erroneous for the APC to suggest that the mere fact that a matter appears among the functions of Local Government Councils automatically removes it from the legislative competence of the State.

Indeed, the Fourth Schedule lists the establishment, maintenance and regulation of motor parks among the functions of Local Government Councils. But the same constitutional framework must be read as a whole, rather than selectively. The Constitution also recognises the authority of a State House of Assembly to confer functions on Local Government Councils by law.

The APC’s argument that the State House of Assembly is constitutionally barred from legislating on a subject connected with Local Government Councils is therefore totally wrong.

The question is not whether motor parks are mentioned in the Fourth Schedule. They are. The relevant constitutional question is whether the State Legislature is competent to establish a legal framework regulating matters within the State, including the operation, coordination and administration of the transport sector and the manner in which functions relating to motor parks are exercised.

The answer cannot be obtained by merely quoting Section 7(1) and stopping there.

It is pertinent to say that ALL the functions enumerated for the Local Government in the fourth Schedule of the Constitution CAN NOT BE PERFORMED WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. Mr Kola Olabisi should please add this to his knowledge.

Furthermore, Section 100 of the Constitution expressly provides the constitutional procedure through which the legislative power of a State House of Assembly is exercised by Bills passed by the House and, subject to the Constitution, assented to by the Governor.

The Osun State House of Assembly has followed the legislative process in considering and passing the Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill. The legislation was subjected to debate and deliberation by elected representatives of the people before its passage.

It is therefore curious that the APC, rather than allowing the constitutional and legal processes to take their course, has chosen to declare the legislation “dead on arrival” and demand its withdrawal.

If the APC genuinely believes that the law is unconstitutional, the courts are open to it.

Rather than issuing sweeping declarations about what is or is not enforceable, the party should approach a competent court of law and place its interpretation of the Constitution before the judiciary. The House has no fear of judicial scrutiny and is prepared to abide by the determination of a competent court of law on any genuine question of constitutional interpretation.

What the Assembly will not accept, however, is the presentation of partisan assertions as settled constitutional law.

The APC should therefore do the Nigerian public the favour of distinguishing between political disagreement and constitutional invalidity. The fact that the party disagrees with a policy or legislative intervention does not, by itself, make that legislation unconstitutional.

The Assembly also rejects the suggestion that the Bill was enacted to create crisis or disturb public peace. Its stated objectives include the promotion of orderliness, transparency, passenger protection, transport safety, digitalised ticketing, elimination of multiple ticketing and improved coordination of the transport system.

These are legitimate matters of public governance that deserve informed legislative consideration rather than political alarmism.

The Osun State House of Assembly consequently advises the APC to properly acquaint itself with the intendment and full architecture of the Constitution before making further public pronouncements capable of misleading citizens.

If the APC considers its interpretation of the Constitution so compelling, it should test that interpretation before the court of law rather than attempt to determine constitutional validity through press statements.

The Assembly remains committed to exercising its constitutional mandate responsibly and to making laws that promote order, accountability, public safety and the welfare of the people of Osun State.