AGF to S’Court: Osun must refund seven month’s LG allocations

Adeleke

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has urged the Supreme Court to compel Osun State Government to refund seven months’ local government allocations to the Minister of Finance.

The request was contained in a response filed through Fagbemi’s counsel, Chief Akin Olujimi SAN, to a suit instituted by the government via its attorney general.

Osun had sued the AGF as the sole defendant, alleging that the Federal Government failed to release the statutory allocation due to its 30 local government councils for March 2025.

In the suit marked SC/CV/379/2025, the state government claimed that whenit queried the Ministry of Finance over the unpaid allocation, the Minister of Finance, Wale Odun, allegedly said he was acting under the AGF’s directive.

However, the AGF denied the claim, challenging the legitimacy of the suit, accusing the state government of contempt for allegedly disobeying a July 11, 2024, Supreme Court judgment.

Fagbemi argued that Osun’s reliance on the 2004 case of AG Lagos State v. AG Federation—where the Supreme Court ordered the release of withheld funds to Lagos State—was misplaced.

In a counter-affidavit deposed by the Special Assistant to the President, Taye Oloyede, the AGF insisted that neither he nor the Minister of Finance instructed the withholding of Osun’s LG funds.

Oloyede testified that on May 22, 2025, in his presence, the Minister of Finance denied ever receiving such instructions.

According to the affidavit, Osun State never alleged that the President issued an order, nor did it provide evidence that the LG funds were deliberately withheld.

Oloyede emphasised that direct payment of allocations to LGs requires only that they submit account details to the Ministry of Finance.