The Osun State Government has filed a fresh suit at the Supreme Court against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, over the alleged unlawful withholding of statutory allocations due to its 30 local government councils since March 2025.
The state government claims that the AGF’s decision to withhold the funds is unconstitutional and arbitrary, and has ignored subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court in Osogbo and the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the legitimacy of council chairmen and councillors elected on February 22, 2025.
Despite these judgments, the AGF directed that local government funds be withheld pending the resolution of a “local government crisis.”
However, Osun maintained that the appellate court ruling had already settled the issue, having nullified the October 2022 local government elections conducted under the previous administration.
The state government is seeking several reliefs, including a declaration that the AGF lacks constitutional power to seize local government funds, that his directive contravenes valid court judgments, and that all withheld allocations should be released directly into the accounts of the duly elected councils.
It is also asking for a perpetual injunction restraining future seizures.In a related development, the government has filed another suit at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, challenging the Chief Judge’s decision to transfer a similar case on the same funds to Abuja.
The state warned that pursuing the Abuja case while the Supreme Court is handling the matter could lead to conflicting judgments.
The dispute between Osun State and the AGF has sparked concerns about the relationship between the Federal Government and state governments in Nig
