Osun State and the Federal Government on Monday, at the Federal High Court in Abuja engaged in fierce legal fireworks as the state challenged the transfer of its suit on the withheld local government funds from Osogbo division to Abuja division of the same court.
The suit in question is seeking to restrain the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from opening accounts for the local government chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2022 whom the state government affirmed have been sacked by the same Federal High Court.
When the matter came up on Monday, before Justice Emeka Nwite sitting as a vacation judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN representing Osun State Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, who filed the case on behalf of the state government, told the court that the state had filed two motions on notice, challenging the jurisdiction of the Abuja court to hear the suit transferred from the Osogbo, Osun State division of the Federal High Court on the orders of the Chief Judge (CJ) of the court, Justice John Tsoho.
According to the motion, the plaintiff seeks the setting aside of the fiat said to have been given at the instance of the Chief Judge contained in a letter dated August 21 signed by his personal assistant, Joshua Ibrahim.
He also wants an order setting aside the directive of the Chief Judge that the matter be heard by a vacation judge and that the court should decline jurisdiction to hear the matter during its annual vacation and return the case file back to the Osogbo judicial division of the Federal High Court.
Adetunbi said the second motion on notice, was for the discontinuance of the case against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, who is the 3rd defendant in the suit, which has the CBN and Accountant General of the Federation as the 1st and 2nd defendants.
The motion said, “sequel to the affidavit of urgency filed by the AGF on August 13, it became obvious that he is willing and at the verge of paying the allocation of the Local Government Councils of the plaintiff’s state to the illegal and sacked APC Chairmen and Councilors.
“Consequent on the above, the plaintiff is desirous of initiating and prosecuting a fresh suit against the 3rd defendant (AGF) at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“That, some of the facts, questions and issues to be tabled at the apex court against the AGF would be identical to the facts, questions and issues before the trial court in the instant suit and hence, the need to discontinue the suit against him.”
In another motion on notice filed on August 26, the plaintiff prayed the court for an order staying further proceedings in the suit pending the hearing and determination of the suit numbered SC/CV/773/2025 between the Attorney General of Osun state and the AGF at the Supreme Court.
One of the grounds of the motion is that “the AGF is not willing to obey, abide by or comply with valid and subsisting decision of the Court of Appeal but rather caused an affidavit of urgency to be filed before the court on August 13.”
The plaintiff said “the AGF’s letter of August 26 and the affidavit of urgency showed that he is willing and at the verge of paying the allocation of the Constituents Local Government Councils of the plaintiff state to illegal and sacked APC Chairmen and Councilors.”
According to the plaintiff, “the brazen decision of the AGF necessitated him to approach the Supreme Court to determine the propriety or otherwise of the Federation’s action in paying statutory allocation of the Local Government Councils in Osun state to officials of the APC, who have been removed from office by a subsisting judgement of the trial court which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in view of the position of the AGF in the affidavit of urgency that the purported APC elected Chairmen and Councilors are the ones running the affairs of the Local Government Councils in Osun and will be paid the said allocation, among others.”
According to the counsel to the plaintiff, “all the processes have been duly served on the defendants” a position which counsel to the AGF, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN disputed, saying that, he had not been served with the motion on notice for the discontinuance of the plaintiff’s case against his client.
Olujimi, however, said even if the notice of discontinuance was duly served on him, it could not stop the proceedings of the day until the court made an order to that effect and added that such notice must be attached with an affidavit of service.
Counsel to the CBN, Dr Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN informed the court that the AGF wrote to the Chief Judge for the matter to be heard expeditiously by a vacation judge.
He told the Court that the first Defendant filed seven processes challenging the plaintiff’s motion for stay of proceedings, and against the motion challenging the administrative power of the CJ to transfer the matter from Osun to Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, among others.
On his part, counsel to the Accountant General of the Federation, Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN said, if the matter is not heard during the court’s vacation, it would become an academic exercise and prayed the court to hear all the processes filed in the matter together.
After listening to the submissions of counsel in the matter, the trial Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the case till September 22, 2025 for hearing of all the applications filed in the matter.
The suit, which was filed on behalf of Osun State by the state Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, seeks to restrain the CBN and the AGF from opening and maintaining accounts for the local government chairmen elected in October 2022 under the APC.
The chairmen in question were elected in an election that only featured candidates from the APC.
Specifically, the plaintiff wants “an interim injunction restraining the defendants from opening, operating, or maintaining local government accounts in favour of the Chairmen and Councillors who have been sacked or removed from office by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.”
Another relief seeks to restrain the CBN and Accountant General of the Federation “from disbursing allocations to the sacked APC Chairmen and Councillors.”
