The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved judgment in the suit filed by the Osun State Government against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), regarding the withholding of statutory allocations due to its 30 local government councils since March 2025.
The apex court reserved the judgment after taking arguments from Mr. Musbau Adetunbi, SAN, counsel to the Osun government, and Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, counsel to the AGF.
Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, who led the seven-man panel of justices, said the date for the judgment would be communicated to all parties when ready.
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The Osun government’s suit seeks to compel the Federal Government to release all “seized funds” and to stop what it described as “an unconstitutional and arbitrary seizure” of local government revenues.
Adetunbi argued that the AGF had ignored subsisting judgments from the Federal High Court, Osogbo (delivered November 30, 2022) and the Court of Appeal (June 13, 2025), which affirmed the legitimacy of council chairmen and councilors elected on February 22.
The state argued that the appeal court ruling had already settled the matter by nullifying the October 2022 polls conducted under the previous administration.
The state noted that the AGF, in a March 26, 2025 letter, had advised that the funds be withheld pending the resolution of a local government crisis.
Among the reliefs sought, Osun is asking for declarations that the AGF “lacks constitutional power to seize local government funds” and that his actions “contravene valid court judgments.”
It also prayed that all withheld allocations be released directly into the accounts of the duly elected councils and sought a “perpetual injunction restraining future seizures.”
The state claimed the seizure is “unconstitutional, unlawful, wrongful and ultra vires the powers of the defendant” and raised five issues for the Supreme Court’s determination, including whether the AGF is constitutionally bound to enforce the rulings of the lower courts.
In opposition, the AGF, represented by Akin Olujimi SAN, argued a preliminary objection urging the apex court to dismiss the case.
Olujimi argued, among other grounds, that the plaintiff lacked locus standing (legal power) to bring the case before the Supreme Court to invoke its original jurisdiction because the matter is essentially “between two political parties.”
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