The Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, on Friday, extended its ruling on a series of applications filed in the ongoing suit over Osun State’s withheld local government funds.
Naijaonpoint reports that the case, instituted by the Attorney General of Osun State and another claimant, pits the state against the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and other defendants.
Justice Ladiran Akintola adjourned ruling till Tuesday, October 14, 2025, after listening to extensive arguments from counsels.
He also renewed the interim injunction restraining UBA from processing debit transactions on 30 bank accounts in which the disputed allocations were deposited by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Counsel to UBA, Mutalib Ojo (SAN), urged the court to adjourn the case sine die (indefinitely), pending the judgment of the Supreme Court in a related matter.
He argued that since the apex court had already reserved judgment in the substantive dispute, any ruling by the High Court risked conflicting with the eventual outcome.
Ojo said, “If this High Court proceeds to hear the suit, there is a 50-50 chance that whatever decision it makes may conflict with the Supreme Court’s eventual decision. The issue here concerns the hierarchy of courts. Proceeding further may amount to a waste of judicial time since the Supreme Court’s decision will ultimately prevail.”
The lawyer further assured the court that the funds in contention remained in UBA’s custody and had not been tampered with.
Opposing the bank’s motion, counsel to the sacked APC local government chairmen, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), described the request as “an anomaly,” insisting that the issue of jurisdiction must first be determined.
He said, “From the defendants’ originating summons, it is clear that there is a pending suit before the Supreme Court upon which this current case and its reliefs are predicated. This present suit was filed subsequently after the Supreme Court case was instituted. That in itself constitutes an abuse of court process which this court must not condone.”
On his part, counsel to the plaintiffs, Musibau Adetunmbi (SAN), countered that his clients only approached the court after learning that federal agencies, including the CBN and the Accountant General of the Federation, had moved the disputed funds to UBA despite the unresolved matter before the Supreme Court.
“If the money had not been moved from the CBN, we would not have come before this court. The Supreme Court does not have original jurisdiction over UBA, but this High Court does, hence our action,” Adetunmbi said.
The legal battle stems from a separate case before the Supreme Court, where a seven-member panel led by Justice Uwani Aba’aji on October 7 reserved judgment on whether the Attorney General of the Federation should release Osun State’s withheld local government funds, allegedly redirected to APC-backed chairmen.
“Date for judgment in the suit will be communicated to parties,” Justice Aba’aji had said.
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