The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government seeking to compel the federal government to release all withheld allocations due to the state’s local government councils.
Gatekeepers News reports that a seven-member panel of justices led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji reserved judgment on Tuesday after parties adopted their written addresses.
Akin Olujimi (SAN) appeared for the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), while Musibau Adetunbi (SAN) represented the Osun State Government.
In the suit, marked SC/CV/775/2025, Osun is seeking 10 reliefs, including a declaration compelling the AGF to obey and enforce court rulings affirming the election of democratically elected local government councils held on February 22, 2025.
The state also wants the court to restrain the AGF from paying statutory allocations meant for the 30 LG councils to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who were sacked following the annulment of their October 15, 2022 elections by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Additionally, Osun is asking for an order directing the AGF to release all withheld funds and revenues directly to the newly elected council officials, as well as a perpetual injunction preventing further withholding of funds as long as democratically elected councils are in place.
Adopting his argument, Adetunbi told the court that despite the pending case, the AGF had directed, via a letter dated March 26, that the withheld allocations be released to the sacked APC officials.
“My Lords, even while this matter was pending, 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 stopping the release,” he said.
Responding, Olujimi urged the court to dismiss the suit, citing a preliminary objection challenging its competence. He argued that the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction was not properly invoked, describing the dispute as political, involving rival claims between APC and PDP members over control of the LG councils.
“The fact of the case is that the APC LG officials have a three-year term that will expire on October 22. The state has made it impossible for them to function, filing cases to frustrate them,” Olujimi submitted.
“This is not a matter for this court’s original jurisdiction. The suit discloses no cause of action, and the plaintiff lacks locus standi. It also amounts to an abuse of judicial process.”
After hearing both sides, Justice Abba-Aji announced that the date for judgment would be communicated to the parties.
Earlier, the court struck out another related suit, SC/379/2025, which Osun State said it had filed before the AGF’s directive to release the funds to the sacked APC chairmen and councillors.
