The mindful of the "State of Osun" mantra Aregbesola is propounding- Osun PDP

The leading opposition party in Nigeria's South-West has raised issues
over what it considers the illegal change of the name of Osun State to
State of Osun.


The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pointed out the dangers inherent in
the name changeand warned both corporate bodies and individuals not to
do business with the Rauf Aregbesola administration under the name
"State of Osun".


The Chairman of PDP in Osun State, Alhaji Ganiyu Ola-Oluwa, in a
statement yesterday inOsogbo, the state capital, by the party's
Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi, cited a recent
judgment by a Lagos High Court to justify its position. The statement
noted that the court sitting in Igbosere had dismissed a charge
against a 20-year-old man, David Monday, by The State of Lagos
(prosecution), over what it described as none existence of the
prosecution owing to the name which ought to be Lagos State.


According to the statement entitled PDP cautions Aregbe on use of
"State of Osun" , "We are aware of the pronouncement of Justice
Ebenezer Adebajo in which he declared that 'Section 3 of the
Constitution is headed States of the Federation. It is by virtue of
this section that a State belonging to the Federation, note the use of
the word 'of,' is named as Lagos. Thus we have Lagos State.'


"This declaration by this judge is not restricted to Lagos state as it
affects all states of federation. "We noted that the judge also
queried thus – 'The application is brought by the State of Lagos. Is a
State belonging to Lagos? Does Lagos own a State? Who is Lagos or what
is Lagos?'


"The judged added that 'Lagos exists by virtue of Section 3 of the
Constitution and it comprises of named Local Government Areas.To say
The State of Lagos is to refer in my opinion to a State that belong to
Lagos. It is not the same thing as Lagos State. It is for this reason
that I do not accept that the partyagainst whom the application is
brought exists.' "


Concluding, the statement urged Aregbesola "to digest this and have a
rethink because the name 'State of Osun' does not exist as far as we
are concerned and cannot be recognised now and in the future." It
therefore "advised contractors and corporate institution as well as
individuals and the entire citizenry to disregard any document
containing State of Osun as such is not recognised by the law."