The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the suit filed by the Osun State Government against the Attorney General of the Federation over the alleged withholding of local government funds due to the state.
A seven-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Uwani Abba Aji, reserved judgment after listening to arguments from Musibau Adetunbi, counsel for the Osun Attorney General, and Akin Olujimi, representing Nigeria’s Attorney General.
Osun State accuses the Federal Government of blocking statutory allocations to its 30 local councils since March. It is seeking a declaration that the freeze is unconstitutional, an order for the immediate release of the funds—said to run into tens of billions of naira—and a bar preventing future withholding of allocations.
Counsel for the Federal Government, Akin Olujimi, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the case, arguing that the Osun Attorney General lacks the legal authority to institute the suit. He contended that the matter should not have been brought directly before the apex court, citing jurisdictional grounds.
Olujimi further noted that the tenure of the disputed council chairmen runs until October 22, and that the funds should only be released to them to manage their councils. He also informed the court that similar cases over the withheld funds are already pending before seven different High Courts.
The Federal Government had reportedly frozen Osun’s local government accounts, questioning the legitimacy of the elections held earlier this year, in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won all the seats. However, the Osun State Government maintains that the elections were valid and have been upheld by both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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