- Court to Hear Osun’s Challenge Over Withheld LG Funds Sept 29
- Justice Nwite adjourns case to September 29 for ruling.
- Elected APC local government chairmen and councillors would expire on October 22
The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed September 29 to hear a motion by the Osun State Government challenging the court’s jurisdiction in a suit over withheld local government funds.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that Osun’s lead counsel, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, urged the court to address the validity of the jurisdiction before delving into the substantive case. He argued that since the Federal High Court’s vacation officially ended on September 16, the matter should be returned to Osogbo for appropriate hearing and determination.
Adetumbi anchored his motion on two key grounds: first, that the fiat granted by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to allow the case to be heard during vacation in Abuja no longer applied, and second, that a letter purportedly assigning Justice Emeka Nwite to handle the matter in Abuja was of questionable validity.
He pointed out that the document was signed by an individual identified as the “Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge,” describing the signatory as a “busybody unknown to law.”
However, counsel representing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN), and the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN), opposed the motion.
They described it as a ploy to delay proceedings, stressing that the tenure of the elected APC local government chairmen and councillors would expire on October 22.
After listening to both sides, Justice Nwite adjourned the case to September 29 to consider Osun’s jurisdictional challenge and other preliminary issues.
Earlier, he had struck out the name of the AGF from the list of defendants after the plaintiff discontinued action against him due to a similar matter already pending at the Supreme Court.
The substantive suit, filed by Osun’s Attorney General Oluwole Jimi-Bada, seeks to restrain the CBN and the Accountant General from disbursing allocations to APC local government chairmen elected in October 2022.
The state argues that the officials had been removed by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court, which was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
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