The Osun house of assembly has finally repealed the law validating the public usage of the state’s anthem, crest and flag.
The law, Osun State Anthem, Crest and Flag Law 2012, was instituted during the administration of Rauf Aregbesola.
Adewale Egbedun, Osun house of assembly speaker, said in a statement that repealing the law was in tandem with the ruling of a federal high court in 2017.
BACKGROUND
The state government, during the administration of Aregbesola, announced the renaming of Osun state as ‘state of Osun’, and introduced a new anthem, crest and flag under a new law.
On December 14, 2017, an Osun state high court sitting in Ilesa declared that the renaming was illegal and therefore, null and void, while also declaring that the law and its makers were unknown to the 1999 constitution.
During his inaugural speech in November 2022, Ademola Adeleke, the Osun governor, ordered an immediate reversal to ‘Osun state’ instead of ‘state of Osun’.
A day later, the seventh state house of assembly rejected Adeleke’s order and said the state will continue to be referred to as ‘state of Osun’ as the adoption was “a matter of law”.
OSUN TO RE-ENACT LAW
The speaker said some appropriate and corrected parts of the repealed law will be inserted into the re-enacted version.
“At plenary yesterday, the Osun state house of assembly repealed the Osun State Anthem, Crest and Flag Law 2012, in compliance with the judgement of a Federal High Court dated 14th December, 2017, on a matter instituted by Hon. Kanmi Ajibola representing Oriade state constituency,” his statement reads.
“Understanding however, that there may be some aspects of the law that are appropriate, the house agreed that all corrections made on Osun State Anthem, Crest and Flag Law 2012, form part of the bill for Osun State Anthem, Crest and Flag Bill 2023, sponsored by the majority leader.
“In essence, what the house has done, is vacate a law that had already been invalidated by a court of competent jurisdiction, to pave way for a new law that will respect the letters and spirit of the Nigerian constitution that we swore to abide by.”