Supreme court reserves judgment in Osun’s suit over withheld LG allocations

The supreme court has reserved judgment in a suit seeking to compel the federal government to release all allocations owed to local government councils in Osun state.

The apex court reserved the matter for judgment after parties in the suit adopted their briefs of argument on Tuesday.

Akin Olujimi represented the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), while Musibau Adetunbi represented the Osun state government..

Osun state, in the suit marked SC/CV/775/2025, is seeking 10 reliefs, including a declaration that the AGF must obey and enforce court rulings that upheld the election of democratically elected LG councils held on February 22, 2025.

The plaintiff is seeking an order stopping the AGF from paying statutory allocations meant for the 30 local government councils to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who were sacked after their October 15, 2022, election was annulled by both the federal high court on November 30, 2022, and the court of appeal on June 13, 2025.

The state also wants an order directing the AGF to immediately release and pay all withheld monthly allocations and revenues directly into the accounts of the LG councils led by officials elected on February 22, 2025, and sworn in the next day.

Osun is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the AGF from further withholding or seizing funds due to its LG councils as long as the state has democratically elected council officials in place.

Adopting his processes on Tuesday, Adetunbi, counsel to the state, said the AGF had, in a letter dated March 26, directed that the withheld allocations should be released to APC chairmen and councillors who were already sacked from office by a court judgment.

“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. They actually paid through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, but we were lucky to get an order that stopped the release of the money,” he said.

However, Olujimi, AGF’s counsel, reminded the court of a preliminary objection he filed to challenge the competence of the suit. 

He argued that the jurisdiction of the supreme court was not properly invoked, insisting that at the centre of the action was a contention between the APC and PDP, over who should occupy LG positions in Osun state.

“The fact of the case is that the APC LG officials have a three-year term of office that is still running and will expire on October 22,” Olujimi stated.

“However, the state has made it impossible for the officials to function, filing cases up and down to frustrate them from performing their duties.

“Our position is that this is not a matter for this court. This court can only be approached by activating its original jurisdiction as provided in the constitution. 

“Moreover, the suit has not disclosed any cause of action. We also contend that the plaintiff not only lacked the locus standi but has also involved in an abuse of the judicial process.”

After listening to both sides, a seven-member panel of justices led by Uwani Abba-Aji, said it would communicate the judgment date to all the parties. 

Earlier, the court struck out another suit marked SC/ 379/2025, which Osun state said it filed before the AGF gave a directive for the withheld funds to be released to the APC LG chairmen and councillors.