Fg Drags Osun To Supreme Court Over Withheld LG Funds

The Federal Government has taken a case to the Supreme Court, asking it to order the Osun State Government to return seven months’ worth of money that was meant for local governments.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, made this request through his lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi. This was in response to a lawsuit filed by Osun State.

Osun State claims the Federal Government failed to release the monthly allocation for its 30 local government councils for March 2025. According to the state, when they asked the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, about the missing funds, he said he was following instructions from the Attorney General of the Federation.

The Attorney General has denied this claim. He also accused the Osun State Government of disobeying a Supreme Court ruling from July 11, 2024, which he says shows disrespect for the court.

He further argued that the case should not be accepted by the Supreme Court because Osun State disobeyed a previous ruling.

He said the state has no right to appeal the earlier decision, and that the case does not fall within the type that the Supreme Court should hear directly.

He also said Osun State has no legal right to sue on behalf of local governments, and that only the local councils themselves have the authority to take legal action if they are denied funding.

Fagbemi believes Osun State is acting like a watchdog over local government funds without having the power to do so.

He also said the state was wrong to rely on a 2004 Supreme Court case involving Lagos State, saying the circumstances were different.

In short, the Federal Government is saying that if any local government in Osun has not received its funds, then the affected local council, not the state government, should be the one to go to court.