Court declares ‘State of Osun’ unconstitutional

…says its non-existent in law

An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo has declared the name, ‘State of Osun’ unconstitutional, saying it does not exist in the country’s legal documents.

The court held that what is known to the country’s constitution is Osun State.

Delivering a judgment in a matter brought before it by a lawyer, Mr. Kanmi Ajibola against the Osun State Government over a N5.3million personal tax levied him by the state Internal Revenue Service, Justice Mathias Agboola, said referring to Osun State as ‘State of Osun’ amounted to mere‘artistic colouration.’

Ajibola had sued the state government over tax demanded from him which he described as punitive because of his opposition to the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

The lawyer also urged the court to declare as illegal the tax law made by ‘The House of Assembly of the State of Osun,’ a body unknown to the Nigerian constitution and upon which the tax being demanded from him was based.

Defence counsel, M. Popoola had prayed the court to strike out the case for lack of jurisdiction.

Delivering his judgement, Justice Agboola warned lawyers to be careful of the legal implications of referring to Osun State as ‘State of Osun.’

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.