ABUJA COURT ACTED ON OSUN AG’S WITHDRAWAL REQUEST

The Osun State Government has clarified that the striking out of a suit filed by the Attorney-General of Osun State by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja was as requested by the same AG and did not in any way affect his legal pursuit to safeguard public funds belonging to the local governments in the State from impersonators, noting that what Justice Emeka Nwite did is the normal judicial process that follows the withdrawal of a suit by the plaintiff who files the suit.

It would be recalled that the Osun State Attorney-General had on October 17, 2025, filed a notice of discontinuance of the suit it instituted against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant-General of the Federation at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to restrain the defendants from paying Osun LG Allocations into the illegal accounts opened by the sacked APC yes or no Chairmen in the names of local government councils in the State.

The withdrawal was predicated on the ground that the funds in question had already left the custody of the defendants during the pendency of the matter and as such, there was really nothing to argue about before the Court as the suit had become purely academic.

It would be recalled that in response to the new cause of action birthed by the payment of the local government allocations into the said illegal accounts domiciled with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), the Osun State Attorney-General had filed a suit before a High Court in Ibadan against the Bank and the Court has placed a freezing order on the funds pending the hearing and determination of the matter.

In addition, the Supreme Court has heard and reserved judgement on yet another suit which touches on the local governments allocations in the State. It is therefore evident that the Abuja suit has been overtaken by events and it was on that basis that the Osun AG applied to discontinue the case and which application was granted today.

It is imperative to reiterate that further prosecution of the case would bring no benefit as the defendants had in a clear affront on the Court, transferred the allocations in their possession to the UBA accounts while the matter was pending and in clear violation of an existing order of the Federal High Court for the maintenance of status quo.

At a later date, the Osun State Government will not hesitate to hold the defendants in contempt of the court for their flagrant disobedience to the Court order. In the meantime, the focus of the Osun State is to ensure that Osun Local Government allocations do not end up in the hands of impersonators, but rather in control of those with legal rights to manage our councils and utilise the funds to provide education, healthcare, infrastructures and social welfare of the people at the grassroots as recognized by the Court of Appeal, sitting in Akure in its celebrated Ruling delivered on 13th June, 2025.

We therefore enjoin the good people of Osun State not to be distracted by the subterfuge of people trying to hijack public funds for personal use and remain hopeful that justice will prevail. As a Government, our interest, as always, is the people and we will continue to explore the instrument of legality to ensure that truth and justice always prevail.

Signed:
Nurudeen Kareem, Esq,
Special Adviser to the Governor on Legal Matters

29/10/2025