The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has urged the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, to probe the transfer of a suit concerning the withholding of local government allocations from the Osogbo division to Abuja.
Speaking at a press briefing in Osogbo on Thursday, the state PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, faulted the process, describing it as irregular and raising concerns over the legality of judicial aides acting beyond their powers.
See the statement in full below:
TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE CHAIRMAN, OSUN STATE CHAPTER OF THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), HON. SUNDAY BISI, ON SUSPICIOUS LETTERS ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF JUDGE OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT
Gentlemen of the Press,
We have invited you here today to address a very disturbing development in the handling of the Osun Local Government crisis at the Federal High Court. It concerns two controversial letters issued from the office of the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and we are calling for nothing less than a thorough probe of those letters.
First, let me say this clearly: judicial powers can not be exercised by proxies or by personal assistants. They are reserved exclusively for judicial officers (judges). Unfortunately, that is the abnormal situation we are confronted with and which informed this press conference.
On the 21st of August, 2025, a letter was issued and signed by one Joshua Ibrahim Aji, Esq., who described himself as Special Assistant to the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. In that letter, judicial functions were purportedly exercised, assigning a judicial duty to a judge of the court. This is a gross aberration. A Special Assistant is not a judicial officer, and judicial powers cannot be exercised either directly or by delegation through such an aide.
To make matters worse, another letter emerged dated 2nd September, 2025. That one was not even signed by the so-called Special Assistant. It was signed by an unknown, unnamed individual, on behalf of the Special Assistant. The letter purported to assign a case to a judge, something that can never lawfully be done by anyone other than a judicial officer. Even more suspicious, that letter was delivered to the Osun State counsel on the 11th of September, 2025, more than a week after it was purportedly signed. We have every reason to suspect that that letter may have been backdated to achieve political ends. This suspicion is strong because when the case came up on September 8, 2025 in Abuja, neither the court nor the party to which it was addressed spoke about the letter.
Gentlemen of the press, this is bizarre, unprecedented, and unacceptable.
The law is very clear. The power to transfer a matter from one judge of the Federal High Court to another is provided for under the Federal High Court Act. Such transfer can only be sought through a formal application, in open court, before the presiding judge handling the matter. It cannot be done through secret letters or shadowy signatures.
In the 21st August letter, the office of the Chief Judge even suggested that the case would become “nugatory” if not heard during vacation. But that is a question of fact and law that must be determined in open court with all parties heard. For an administrative letter to prejudge the issue shows bias and prejudice, and compromises the independence of the judiciary.
The abuse of power becomes even clearer when we note that the 2nd September letter was addressed directly to Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, counsel to the 3rd Defendant (the Attorney-General of the Federation) at a time when that defendant had already been withdrawn from the matter and had ceased to be a party in the case. How can the office of the Chief Judge be writing letters to a party that had no proper process before the court? This is strange, bizarre, and deeply troubling.
We are left to wonder: why is the office of the Chief Judge afraid to have this case heard in the Osogbo Division of the Federal High Court where it was filed? Why this backdoor manipulation of process by persons unknown to the law.
Our position is clear: this matter must be returned to the regular Federal High Court in Osogbo. Any application for transfer must be made openly before the regular presiding judge. That is the law. Anything else is illegality.
Let us also state clearly that the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation is not innocent in this matter. The AGF has consistently disregarded the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/103/2022 delivered on 30th November, 2022, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, in CA/AK/270/2025 delivered on 13th June, 2025. Instead of respecting these judgments, the AGF has been instigating manipulations against the people of Osun State and their duly elected PDP local government officials.
The AGF’s actions keep suggesting to reasonable members of the public that he has effectively turned the Federal High Court into an annex of his Chambers. He has encouraged sacked APC Chairmen and Councillors to embark on reckless judicial adventures, seeking elongation of a tenure they never had. He has even filed a similar application before the Supreme Court.
Let it be noted that what the AGF initially sought through his counsel, Chief Olujinmi, SAN, was only an expeditious hearing during vacation. That was the request. But by 2nd September, the story changed. Suddenly, a transfer directive was issued to a vacation judge, instructing him to act as a substantive judge, something no party had applied for.
Gentlemen of the press, this is not a mere technicality. This is a deliberate attempt to erode judicial independence and impose political bias on the courts.
We, the People’s Democratic Party in Osun State, therefore call on the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to immediately probe these irregularities. He must investigate how and why persons, purportedly working in his office, who are not judicial officers, are signing letters that carry the force of judicial authority.
We demand accountability. We demand transparency. Above all, we demand respect for the rule of law.
Thank you.