The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in Osun State’s suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation over alleged diversion of local government funds.
Both parties presented arguments on the legality of the AGF’s directive, with the court set to announce a verdict later.
The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) over the alleged diversion of local government allocations meant for the state’s elected council officials.
At the hearing on Tuesday, former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), represented the Federal Government, while Mr. Musibau Adetunbi (SAN) appeared for Osun State.
The case, marked SC/CV/775/2025, saw the state government seeking ten declarations and orders. Among them was a request for the court to affirm that the AGF is constitutionally bound to implement and respect previous judgments validating the February 22, 2025, local government elections, which produced the current elected councils in Osun.
Osun State alleged that the AGF had unlawfully authorized the payment of local government funds to former All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmen and councilors whose elections had been nullified by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal. The state sought an injunction restraining the AGF from further transferring statutory allocations to the dismissed officials and asked for a perpetual order to ensure such actions are not repeated while elected councils remain in office.
Counsel to Osun, Mr. Adetunbi, informed the court that despite ongoing litigation, the AGF instructed the Central Bank of Nigeria to release funds to the removed APC officials through a directive issued on March 26. He said the state had to seek an urgent court order to prevent the disbursement, arguing that the move was a clear attempt to undermine the judicial process.
Adetunbi urged the Supreme Court to uphold all the reliefs requested by the Osun State Government, maintaining that the AGF had acted beyond his legal authority.
Responding, Chief Olujimi (SAN), representing the AGF, filed a preliminary objection challenging the validity of the case. He contended that the Supreme Court lacked original jurisdiction over what he described as a political dispute between rival parties the APC and the PDP over control of local councils.
According to him, the tenure of the APC officials remained valid until October 22, and the state government had allegedly made governance impossible for them through multiple court actions. He argued that the suit failed to establish a clear cause of action and accused the Osun Government of abusing judicial procedures.
After listening to submissions from both sides, Justice Helen Abba-Aji stated that the court would communicate the date for judgment in due course.
Earlier in the session, the court also struck out a separate case filed by Osun State marked SC/379/2025 after noting that it had been overtaken by subsequent developments, including the AGF’s directive on the disputed allocations.
