Court to hear Osun’s objections on LG funds suit Sept 29
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed September 29 for the hearing of a motion filed by the Osun State Government challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain a suit relating to withheld local government funds in the Abuja Division.
When the matter was called upon for hearing, the Osun government, in a motion filed by its lead counsel, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, argued that since the court vacation ended on September 16, the matter should be returned to Osogbo for appropriate hearing and determination.
Adetumbi, premised the motion on two grounds: first, that the fiat granted by the Attorney General of the Federation allowing the matter to be heard during the court vacation in Abuja had been overtaken by events, as the vacation had ended; and second, that the validity of a purported letter from the office of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court assigning Justice Emeka Nwite to determine the case in Abuja was questionable.
Adetumbi argued that the letter was signed by an individual described as the Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge.
He described the person as a “busybody unknown to law, who lacked the authority to sign such a sensitive document”.
He urged Justice Nwite to grant his request by addressing the substantive matter first.
He said, “I pray your lordship to determine the validity of the letter before considering the substantive matter”.
However, counsel to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN), and counsel to the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN), both defendants in the matter, opposed the application.
They alleged that the motion was a ploy to delay proceedings, stressing that the tenure of the elected APC local government chairmen and councillors would expire on October 22, after which the case would become academic if not promptly heard.
After hearing arguments, Justice Nwite adjourned to September 29 to consider Osun State’s jurisdictional challenge and any other preliminary issues before moving to the substantive suit.
Earlier in the proceedings, Justice Nwite struck out the name of the Attorney General of the Federation, who was listed as the third defendant, after the plaintiff discontinued the case against him.
Counsel to the plaintiff explained that the withdrawal was due to another pending suit involving the AGF at the Supreme Court.
The substantive suit, filed by Osun State Attorney General Oluwole Jimi-Bada on behalf of the state government, seeks to restrain the CBN and the Accountant General of the Federation from opening or maintaining accounts for APC local government chairmen elected in October 2022. The state maintains that these officials were sacked by a judgment of the Federal High Court, a decision subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal.
The state government is specifically asking the court for an “interim injunction restraining the defendants from opening, operating, or maintaining local government accounts in favour of the chairmen and councillors who have been removed from office by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.”
It is also seeking an order to restrain the CBN and the Accountant General of the Federation “from disbursing allocations to the sacked APC chairmen and councillors.”
