The Osun State Government has dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court over the alleged unlawful seizure of statutory allocations due to its 30 local government councils since March 2025.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the suit which was filed on Monday by the state through its Attorney-General, is challenging the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) over what it described as the unconstitutional withholding of funds belonging to democratically elected councils.
The legal action, instituted by a team led by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), seeks an order compelling President Bola Tinubu’s administration to release all withheld allocations and comply with existing judgments validating the councils elected on February 22, 2025.
Court filings revealed that the AGF, in a March 26, 2025 letter, ordered the suspension of the funds, citing a crisis in the state’s local governments.
Osun, however, argued that both the Federal High Court in Osogbo and the Court of Appeal had already ruled in favour of the newly elected councils while nullifying the October 15, 2022 polls conducted under the previous administration.
The state is asking the Supreme Court to declare that the AGF has no constitutional power to withhold local government allocations or disobey valid court judgments. It also seeks a perpetual injunction against future seizures of funds as long as elected councils remain in office.
“The seizure, suspension, withholding and refusal to pay the allocations and revenues due to the local government councils of the plaintiff state is unconstitutional, unlawful and ultra vires the powers of the defendant,” the summons partly reads.
Osun raised five issues for the apex court’s determination, including whether the AGF is constitutionally bound under Sections 287(2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution to enforce judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, and whether the AGF acted beyond his powers by issuing directives that contradicted subsisting court rulings.
The state further asked the court to determine whether the AGF can continue to cite a “local government crisis” as justification for withholding funds despite the latest judgment of the Court of Appeal on June 13, 2025, which affirmed the legitimacy of the February 2025 councils.
In addition to the Supreme Court action, Osun has filed a separate suit at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, challenging the transfer of an earlier case on the disputed allocations from Osogbo to Abuja. The government argued that such a transfer violated court rules and could create conflicting judgments.
In an affidavit supporting the application, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Olufemi Akande Ogundun, described the Federal Government’s stance as “an affront to the rule of law,” stressing that only the Supreme Court can resolve the constitutional issues.
The state cited precedents, including A.G. Kano State v. A.G. Federation (2007) and RMAFC v. A.G. Rivers State (2023), to strengthen its position.
Osun also accused the AGF of creating a “self-induced urgency,” noting that he failed to respond to processes for over 80 days before filing an affidavit of urgency on August 13, 2025.
With the matter now before the Supreme Court, the state has asked that all proceedings at the lower courts be suspended until the apex court delivers judgment.
No hearing date has yet been fixed.