EXECUTIVE BOARD
OSUN STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION

HON. JUSTICE TITUS A. OYEYEMI (RTD) EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN	HON. (Surv). AKINGBOYE OGUNOLA MEMBER/SECRETARY

Hon. Chief Remi Alabi Commissioner I	Hon. Chief Bamidele Ishola Commissioner II	Hon.(Barr) Ezekiel Ogunjuyigbe Commissioner III

Hon. Gbolagade Adebisi Commissioner IV	Hon. (Ahj.) Rasak Adegbile Commissioner V

Message from Chairman;

The current Commission made up of seven members was inaugurated on April 01, 2010 by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the present Governor of Osun State through the existing constitutional provisions, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerial, 1999, section 197 (1) (b). We immediately resumed work to face the challenges of the Office.

Though, we met some policies that had been put in place by our predecessors, we needed to add others and improve on the existing ones.

In OSSIEC as it existed before, five Commissioners were assigned Six Local Governments each for supervision and each Commissioner was given a Portfolio.

There were five portfolios as follows: Works and Maintenance, Logistics and Supplies, Research and Statistics, Legal Services, Operations and Field Services. Each Commissioner saw to the administration of an office area and duties assigned to him and gave periodic reports
.
We assessed things, saw that they are useful and we decided to retain the policies. It is worthy of mention that men of integrity and of track record have been appointed to this Commission from its inception. The Current one is not an exception.

With these men in place, I do not have fears that free, fair and credible election(s) will be conducted. We started on a good note of hard work, honesty, trust and dedication to duties. These are rudiments to success in any human endeavour and we are confident, through God’s guidance and our unalloyed determination, we will achieve very sound successes like our predecessors.

We are determined to uphold the rule of law to the letters. In carrying out our duties, the Political Parties are our Partners in Progress. We hope to work closely with them, hold regular meetings and where applicable have dialogue and/or consultations. We hope to close any gap since the Political Parties are our instrument of operation. Without them, we have no job, and without a job, our position will be a vacuum – non-existent. In the light of these, we implore all the Political Parties to move close to us, discuss issues with us for amicable co-existence and good working relationship.

We want every member of the political parties to see election contest as a game that should be played with all fairness and the doctrines of God Almighty. It should not be seen as a
do-or-die affair. Caution and restraint should be observed in dealings and intent by all stake-holders. We are confident that with all the above conditions fulfilled, every one will find the contest interesting and our environment will be a better place to live in. Individually and
Co-operatively, we shall not fail.

Hon. Justice Titus Adewuyi Oyeyemi (rtd).
Chairman, Osun State Independent Electoral Commission

OSSIEC : HISTORICAL BENCHMARK

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Section 197 (1) provides for the establishment of State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC).
The Section States inter alia that “There shall be established for each state of the Federation, the State Independent Electoral Commission whose composition and power are set out in part II of the third schedule to this constitution”. In this third schedule the powers of SIEC are expressly stated as:-

(i) To organize, undertake, and to supervise all elections to the local government council within the state.
(ii) To render such advice as it may consider necessary to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on the compilation of register of Voters in so far as that register is applicable to local government election in the state.

In line with the constitutional provisions the Osun State Government established the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission through Osun State Law. In conformity with this constitutional provision and the Osun State Law, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission was first inaugurated during Governor Bisi Akande’s regime of Osun State, 1999-2003. The Commission’s tenure was between April 2002 and June 2003. There were seven members, two full time and five part time The Second Commission was inaugurated by the present Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola on January 13, 2004 and the tenure terminated on January 12, 2009. Membership was seven, all full time.

The Present Commission

The Third and present Commission has seven full members as well and was inaugurated on April 01, 2010 by the same Governor Oyinlola.

THE MEMBERSHIP TRAIL
The first Commission (2002-2003) had seven members with only the Chairman and secretary as full time while the rest five were part-time members. The membership had Elder Dosu Kehinde as Chairman, and Mr. Femi Osunro as Secretary. Other members who were part-time included Mr. P.O. Ibikunle, Mr. G.A. Omibeku, Mr. Bisi Lawal, Chief Adefioye Adedeji and Chief Mrs F.O. Adetoyinbo.

The second Commission (2004- 2009) had seven full members with Hon. Justice A. A. Sijuwade C.J (Rtd) as Chairman; other Commissioners were, Chief Micheal Remi Alabi, Surv. Akinboye Ogunola, Mr. Adebayo Adediran, Chief Tony Idowu Osanyin and Barrister Abraham Olanipekun Ajileye while Chief Micheal Adebayo Ololade Olagunju was a member and Secretary to the Commission. On December 19, 2006, Chief Tony Osanyin died and was replaced in March 2007 with Chief Bamidele Ishola.

The third (April 2010 to date) and present Commission has Hon. Justice Titus Adewuyi Oyeyemi (rtd) as Chairman. Other members are Chief Remi Alabi, Chief Bamidele Ishola, Barrister Ezekiel Ogunjuyigbe, Mr. Gbolagade Adebisi, Alhaji Rasak Adegbile and Surveyor Akinboye Ogunola (Member/Secretary).

Activities of Past Admmistration and the Present Cycle
The first Commission (2002-2003) did not conduct any elections before leaving office. Nevertheless, they contributed by starting off the commission and gave in a track.

The Second commission (2004-2009) improved tremendously on the activities of the initial Commission. During this tenure, Commissioners were assigned to coordinate six Local Government, each and each was assigned a Portfolio. This Commission created additional wards for the Local Governments in the State. The exercise resulted in increasing the existing 332 wards in the state to 425.

The third and present Commission started off by studying the existing structure with a view to improving on it. Good enough, three of the former immediate past Commission members were retained and this helped our smooth take-off.

Before the inauguration of this Commission, there had been the decision to upgrade all Local Governments of the Federation to 20 wards without exception. This present Commission built on the work of their immediate past predecessor and increased the wards to twenty per Local Government.

Local Government Elections

So far in the History of the Commission, the second Commission with Hon. Justice A. A. Sijuwade (C.J., rtd) conducted two separate Elections into the 30 Local Governments and the 332 Wards in the State. These Elections which were described as free and fair came up on March 27, 2004 and December 15, 2007. The present cycle is yet to conduct one.