Osun Drags AGF to Supreme Court Over Withheld LG Funds
The Osun State Government has instituted a new legal action at the Supreme Court against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), over what it terms the unlawful withholding of statutory allocations accruing to its 30 local government councils since March 2025.
This latest originating summons, filed on Monday, comes months after Osun withdrew an earlier action on the same subject matter against the AGF. The state is now renewing its push for judicial enforcement of its local councils’ financial entitlements.
Represented by its Attorney-General, alongside a legal team led by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), Osun is urging the apex court to order the Federal Government to release all withheld funds and to halt what it describes as an “unconstitutional and arbitrary seizure” of local government revenues.
The state contends that the AGF has disregarded subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court, Osogbo (delivered on 30 November 2022) and the Court of Appeal (13 June 2025), which upheld the legitimacy of council chairmen and councillors elected on 22 February 2025.
According to Osun, the AGF, via a letter dated 26 March 2025, directed that allocations to the councils be suspended pending the resolution of what he termed a “local government crisis.” The state maintains this position is untenable given the appellate court’s final pronouncement on the matter, which nullified the October 2022 polls conducted by the previous administration.
Osun is seeking declarations that the AGF lacks the constitutional authority to seize local government funds, that his actions violate valid court judgments, and that the withheld monies be paid directly into the accounts of the duly elected councils. The state is also asking for a perpetual injunction restraining future seizures.
The state also brought five questions for the Supreme Court’s determination, whether the AGF is bound by Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to enforce the decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, and whether his 26 March 2025 directive can stand in the face of those judgments.
Simultaneously, Osun has filed a separate suit at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, challenging the Chief Judge’s decision to transfer an earlier related case to Abuja for hearing by a vacation judge. The state warns that allowing the Abuja proceedings to continue while the Supreme Court is seized of the matter risks producing conflicting judgments.
In an affidavit, Olufemi Akande Ogundun, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, described the Federal Government’s actions as “an affront to the rule of law,” citing precedents such as A.G. Kano State v. A.G. Federation (2007) and RMAFC v. A.G. Rivers State (2023). He further accused the AGF of creating a “self-induced urgency” by delaying responses for over 80 days before filing an affidavit of urgency on 13 August 2025, and argued that the Chief Judge’s transfer order risks creating a perception of judicial bias.
