The Supreme Court on Tuesday in Abuja reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) over the release of the state’s withheld local government allocations.
A seven-member panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Uwani Aba’aji, took the decision after hearing arguments from both parties. Justice Aba’aji said the date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties in due course.
Osun’s Attorney-General, represented by Chief Musbau Adetumbi (SAN), had approached the court seeking several declaratory and injunctive reliefs against the AGF, represented by Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN). The suit, numbered SC/CV/773/2025, seeks an order compelling the AGF to release funds allegedly withheld and redirected to former local government chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Osun government asked the court to declare that the AGF is constitutionally bound to comply with the subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, which affirmed the existence of democratically elected local government councils following elections held in the state on February 22, 2025.
It also sought declarations that the AGF acted unlawfully by withholding statutory allocations due to the 30 local government councils in Osun and by attempting to pay the funds to sacked APC officials whose election had been nullified by the courts.
The state further asked the Supreme Court to order the immediate release of all withheld allocations to the validly elected local government councils, as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining the AGF from any further interference with the state’s local government finances.
Adetumbi, arguing for the state, told the court that despite pending litigation, the AGF had in a letter dated March 26 directed that the withheld funds be released to the APC-led councils that had already been removed by court orders.
“Even while this matter was before the Supreme Court, the defendant attempted to destroy the subject matter by paying the money through the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said. “We were, however, able to secure an order stopping the release of the funds.”
He urged the court to grant all the reliefs sought and dismiss the AGF’s objections.
In his response, Chief Olujimi (SAN) asked the apex court to dismiss the case, describing it as “an abuse of court process” and “a matter rooted in political dispute.”
He argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case, noting that similar disputes were already pending before several Federal and State High Courts across the country.
“This is essentially a political conflict between the APC and PDP over who should control the local governments in Osun State,” he said. “The APC-elected councils have a three-year tenure that will expire in October, yet their administration has been obstructed from inception.”
Olujimi further submitted that the case disclosed no cause of action, that Osun State lacked the locus standi to institute it, and that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process.
He urged the Supreme Court to uphold his preliminary objections and dismiss the suit for lack of merit.
Earlier in the proceedings, the apex court struck out another related case filed by Osun State, marked SC/379/2025, which had been instituted before the AGF issued the contested directive on the release of local government funds.
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