An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa has ruled that the renaming of Osun State as “State of Osun” by Governor Rauf Aregbesola was illegal; and therefore, null and void.
When Nigerian constitution gave some states a dose of state autonomy, it, obviously, did not consider innovative governors, who had the power to strategize and create new ideas.
Apart from controversy-ridden Imo State Governor, Governor Rochas Okoracha, another governor, who is recently in the news is the Osun State Governor, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, with his unconventional ideas, one of which is changing the name, ‘Osun State” to “State of Osun”.
Justice Yinka Afolabi has chided Aregbesola for single-handedly making the decision to change the name of the state, as such law and makers were unknown to the 1999 Constitution. This was delivered during a judgement on Thursday in a case instituted by the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ilesa branch, and a Human right activist, Mr Kanmi Ajibola, challenging the legality of the “State of Osun Land Use Charge Law”, as reported by The Cable ng.
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, He added that since the creation of the state in 1991, no previous governor had changed the name, neither as any of the other 35 states decide to do so.