The Osun State Government has filed a new lawsuit in the Supreme Court against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), over the alleged unconstitutional withholding of statutory allocations due to its 30 local government councils from March 2025.
The new complaint, filed on Monday, comes months after the state government filed an application to withdraw an earlier one against the AGF on the same issue.
In the originating summons filed on Monday, the state, through its Attorney-General and a legal team led by Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), is asking the Supreme Court to compel the Federal Government to release all seized funds and stop what it describes as “an unconstitutional and arbitrary seizure” of local government revenues.
The Osun AG stated that the AGF had disregarded previous decisions of the Federal High Court, Osogbo (issued November 30, 2022) and the Court of Appeal (June 13, 2025), which confirmed the legality of council chairmen and members elected on February 22, 2025.
According to the state, the AGF advised in a March 26, 2025 letter that the monies be withheld pending the settlement of a “local government crisis”.
However, the state government contended that the appellate court order had already resolved the issue, rendering the October 2022 polls conducted by the previous administration invalid.
Among its reliefs, Osun seeks findings that the AGF lacks constitutional authority to take local government monies, that his acts violate legitimate court orders, and that all withheld allocations be delivered immediately into the accounts of lawfully elected councils. It also seeks a lifelong injunction to prevent future seizures.
“The seizure, suspension, withholding and/or refusal to pay the allocations and revenues due to the constituent local government councils of the plaintiff state… is unconstitutional, unlawful, wrongful and ultra vires the powers of the defendant,” part of the suit reads.
The state also raised five issues for the Supreme Court to decide, including whether the AGF is constitutionally obligated under Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to enforce the rulings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, and whether his March 26, 2025 directive to withhold funds can withstand the appellate judgement.
Simultaneously, Osun filed another complaint before the Federal High Court in Osogbo, disputing the Chief Judge’s decision to relocate an earlier case involving the same money from Osogbo to Abuja for hearing by a vacation judge.
The state warned that proceeding with the Abuja case while the Supreme Court is hearing it could result in inconsistent judgements.
In an affidavit, Olufemi Akande Ogundun, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, branded the Federal Government’s actions as “an affront to the rule of law,” emphasising that only the Supreme Court can definitively address the constitutional concerns. He highlighted previous cases such as A.G. Kano State v. A.G. Federation (2007) and RMAFC v. A.G. Rivers State (2023).
The state further accused the AGF of “self-induced urgency”, claiming that he delayed responding to originating procedures for more than 80 days until filing an affidavit of urgency on August 13, 2025.
It contended that the Chief Judge’s transfer decision “casts the court’s lot with the AGF” and may create an impression of prejudice.
