Months after the Osun State local government allocations were withheld by the federal government, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in a high-stakes legal battle between the Osun State Government and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) over the release of Local Government (LG) funds allegedly withheld from the state.
A seven-man panel of Justices led by Justice Uwani Aba’aji on Tuesday 7th October, 2025, adjourned the matter for judgment after listening to final arguments from both parties. The court, however, did not fix a specific date for the verdict, promising that the judgment date would be communicated in due course.
The case, SC/CV/773/2025, was instituted by the Osun State Government through the Attorney General of the state, seeking an order, restraining the AGF from releasing the LG allocations to the disputed Council Chairmen, elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Representing Osun State, Musbau Adetumbi, SAN, argued that the AGF acted unlawfully by recognizing the APC Chairmen despite pending litigation and court judgments that had nullified their election. He urged the apex court to compel the AGF to release the statutory allocations to the “validly elected Chairmen and Councillors-elected under the PDP” in the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State.
Adetumbi told the court that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja had earlier voided the controversial APC-led council election, adding that the AGF’s letter of recognition amounted to executive interference in a matter still before the judiciary.
While opposing the suit, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, who represented the AGF, filed a preliminary objection urging the Supreme Court to dismiss the case outright.
Olujimi contended that the Osun State Government lacked the legal standing (locus standi) to initiate the suit under the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, insisting that the dispute was “essentially a political matter between the two parties”.
He argued that the apex court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case directly, adding that the plaintiff’s action was incompetent and amounted to an abuse of court process, as similar cases were already pending in several lower courts.
The AGF’s counsel also maintained that the tenure of the APC Chairmen remains valid until October 22, and that the withheld funds should rightly be released to them for the administration of the council.
After hearing the submissions from both sides, Justice Aba’aji announced that judgment had been reserved and that the parties would be duly notified once the court’s decision was ready.
The believe many was that the outcome of the case is expected to have far-reaching implications for the control of local government finances and the relationship between state governments and the federal authorities on fiscal autonomy.
