The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Tuesday, October 7, reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government seeking to compel the Federal Government to release all withheld allocations belonging to the Local Government Councils (LGCs) in the state.
A seven-member panel of justices led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji reserved the matter for judgment after both parties, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Attorney-General of Osun State, adopted their respective briefs of argument.
The former AGF, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), appeared for the Federal Government, while Mr. Musibau Adetunbi (SAN) represented Osun State.
In the suit, marked SC/CV/775/2025, Osun State sought ten reliefs, including a declaration that the AGF is constitutionally obligated to enforce and comply with existing court judgments affirming the legitimacy of the state’s democratically elected local councils following elections held on February 22, 2025.
The state argued that the AGF acted arbitrarily by diverting local government allocations to sacked All Progressives Congress (APC) officials in violation of subsisting judgments by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had nullified their elections.
Among the prayers sought was an order restraining the AGF from paying funds due to Osun’s 30 local governments to the ousted APC chairmen and councillors. The state also requested a perpetual injunction preventing future withholding of statutory allocations as long as democratically elected councils are in place.
Adetunbi told the court that, despite pending litigation, the AGF had directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release the withheld funds to the sacked officials through a letter dated March 26. He said, “My Lords, even while this matter was pending before this court, the defendant attempted to destroy the res (subject matter) by attempting to pay the money to one of the contending parties. They actually paid through the Central Bank of Nigeria, but we were lucky to get an order that stopped the release of the money.”
He urged the court to grant all the reliefs sought by the Osun State Government, insisting that the AGF had overstepped his constitutional powers.
However, Chief Olujimi (SAN), counsel to the AGF, filed a preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit and asked the court to dismiss it. He contended that the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction had not been properly invoked and that the dispute was essentially a political conflict between the APC and PDP over control of local government positions.
“The fact of the case is that the APC local government officials have a three-year term of office that is still running and will expire on October 22,” Olujimi said. “However, the state has made it impossible for the officials to function, filing cases up and down to frustrate them from performing their duties. This is not a matter for this court. Moreover, the suit has not disclosed any cause of action. We also contend that the plaintiff lacks locus standi and is abusing the judicial process.”
After hearing both parties, Justice Abba-Aji announced that the judgment date would be communicated later.
Earlier in the proceedings, the court struck out another related suit, SC/379/2025, which Osun State had filed before the AGF’s directive to release the withheld allocations to the APC officials.
