By John Dike, Osogbo
Osun State Government has dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court over the seized statutory allocations due to the Local Governments in the state.
Specifically, it wants the apex court to determine whether it is constitutional for the federal government to withhold the statutory allocations meant for the 30 local government council areas of the state since March 2025.
Im the action filed through a team of senior lawyers led by Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Mr. Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), the state government seeks to compel the federal government to immediately release all funds withheld and to end alleged “unlawful and arbitrary seizure” of local government allocations.
It argues n the originating summons that the federal government has ignored existing judicial rulings affirming the legitimacy of the current local government leadership in the state.
These include a Federal High Court ruling delivered in Osogbo on November 30, 2022; and a Court of Appeal judgment dated June 13, 2025
It claimed that both rulings recognize the legality of the council chairmen and councillors elected on February 22, 2025, and sworn in on February 23, 2025.
The 35-paragraph affidavit supporting the case was deposed to by the Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Ogungbile Adeola Olusola.
The state government is seeking several orders from the Supreme Court including:
1. An order restraining the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF from disbursing statutory allocations to former APC council officials who were removed following the nullification of the October 15, 2022 local government elections, a nullification that remains unchallenged in any court;
2. An order compelling the AGF to release all withheld local government allocations directly into accounts held by the validly elected council leadership from the February 2025 elections; and
3. A perpetual injunction restraining the federal government from further suspending, withholding, or diverting funds due to Osun’s local governments, as long as they are democratically constituted.
In a brief reaction, spokesman for the AGF, Kamarudeen Ogundele, confirmed awareness of the suit and stated that the AGF’s office would file all necessary legal responses before the Supreme Court.
“No date has been fixed yet for the hearing,” Ogundele added
The dispute had arisen amid heightened controversies over local government autonomy, the validity of prior APC-led councils, and recent efforts by the Adeleke administration to assert the authority of newly elected local government officials under the Peoples Democratic Party PDP administration.
Already, various groups including traditional leaders and civil society bodies have weighed in, appealing to President Bola Tinubu for federal intervention.
