The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, reserved judgment in a suit filed by the Osun State Government seeking to stop the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), from releasing the withheld Local Government funds to the disputed Local Government chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Uwani Aba’aji, who led a 7-man panel of Justices during the proceedings of the apex court, reserved judgement after taking arguments from Musbau Adetumbi, SAN, who represented Osun State Attorney General and Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, who is counsel to the AGF.
Justice Aba’aji announced that the date for the delivery of the judgement in the suit with Number, SC/CV/773/2025 would be communicated to the two parties when it is ready.
In the suit, the Osun State Attorney General sought an order of the Supreme Court to direct the AGF to immediately release the statutory allocations to the Chairmen and Councilors validly elected for the 30 Local Government Areas of the state.
The Osun State Government which is the plaintiff in the suit, invoked the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction based on a letter by AGF according recognition to the disputed APC Chairmen, and therefore sought an order stopping the AGF from further withholding, suspending or seizing monthly allocations and revenues standing to the credit of the constituents Local Governments, having democratically elected Chairmen in place.
The grouse of the Osun Attorney General was hinged on the fact the Attorney General of the Federation was wrong in his letter recognizing the APC Local Government chairmen when the matter was pending before court of records.
The Sun State Government also predicated its case on the ground that the election that brought in the APC officials as Local Government chairmen and Councillors had been nullified by a Federal High Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
Counsel to the Osun Attorney General, Adetumbi, SAN, while presenting the case, pleaded with the Justices of the Supreme Court to uphold his arguments and grant all the reliefs sought by his client.
However, while opposing the prayers by the plaintiff, the counsel to the AGF, Akin Olujimi, SAN, raised a preliminary objection and urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the case of on various grounds.
Olujimi, argued among others, that the plaintiff lacked locus standing (Legal power) to bring the case before the Supreme Court to invoke the original jurisdiction because the matter is between two political parties.
Olujimi further argued that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit, saying that it was not competent to be presented directly to the apex court as done by the plaintiff.
He also told the Court that the suit did not disclose any cause of action adding that, the tenure of the disputed council chairmen is still running till October 22, saying that the proper thing was for the statutory allocation to be released to them to run the Councils.
Olujimi also said that the Osun State Attorney General merely engaged in abuse of court processes by filing cases in about seven High Courts on the same subject with the same parties and therefore urged the court to refuse granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiff and dismiss the suit in its entirety.
