Osun LG Funds: Supreme Court Reserves Judgment In Case Against AGF

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) over the alleged withholding and diversion of local government funds belonging to the state.

A seven-member panel of the Apex court, led by Justice Uwani Aba’aji, announced that judgment had been reserved after hearing arguments from both parties.

The suit, marked SC/CV/773/2025, was instituted by the Osun State Attorney General, represented by Musbau Adetumbi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, while the AGF was represented by Chief Akin Olujimi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Osun State, in the originating summons, sought ten reliefs, including declarations that the AGF is constitutionally bound to comply with subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal affirming the legitimacy of democratically elected local government councils in the state.

The state also asked the court to declare that the AGF acted unlawfully by allegedly attempting to channel statutory allocations meant for the 30 local government councils to sack All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councillors whose elections had been nullified.

Adetumbi, in his argument, told the court that despite ongoing proceedings, the AGF, through a letter dated March 26, directed that the withheld allocations be released to the sacked APC officials.

“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,” he said.

“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 therefore prayed the court to grant all the reliefs sought and issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the AGF from further withholding or misdirecting Osun’s local government funds.

However, the AGF’s counsel, Olujimi, urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of merit, describing it as a political dispute and an abuse of court process.

“My Lord, the objections stand on six grounds. In the first ground, we urge your Lordships not to accord the plaintiff hearing because he has committed contempt of this court,” he argued.

“The dispute brought before your Lordships is in fact pending before several High Courts. The issue over elected local government officials is between the APC and the PDP, over who should be in office,” the Senior Advocate added.

He further contended that the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction was not properly invoked, noting that the matter was already being litigated in at least seven lower courts across the country.

“The suit has not disclosed any cause of action. It has no locus and is an abuse of process. I urge your Lordships to uphold the preliminary objections and dismiss this suit,” he said.

Earlier, the court struck out another related suit, SC/379/2025, filed by Osun State before the AGF’s March 26 directive, after the state indicated it was no longer pursuing that matter.

The Osun government is seeking an order directing the AGF to immediately release all withheld allocations from March 2025 till date and to pay them directly into the accounts of the validly elected local government councils inaugurated on February 23.

The apex Court subsequently adjourned the matter and will communicate a date for judgment to the parties involved.