The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has approached the Supreme Court, urging it to compel the Osun State Government to refund funds meant for the state’s local governments from January to July 2024.
Fagbemi, in a written address submitted to the apex court, insisted that Osun State acted in contempt of court by continuing to withhold local government funds in defiance of a valid court order on full financial autonomy.
The AGF said that “in the circumstance, we urge your lordships to order Osun State to refund all funds meant for local governments in the state from January 2024 to July 2024 which it has continued to withhold in violation of the Constitution.”
He added that although the AGF cannot initiate an action on behalf of local governments for recovery of funds, “it is within the competence of the plaintiffs to ask for an order directing that the funds illegally withheld from the LGAs by Osun State be refunded.”
The Osun State Government, through its counsel, Dr. Abiodun Layonu (SAN), had argued that local governments are capable of suing and being sued in their own names, and that the AGF lacks the legal right to act on their behalf.
But the AGF dismissed this claim, stating that “if the LGAs are legal persons, they must have voluntarily submitted to the authority of the Osun State Government to manage their funds,” adding that “the Supreme Court has not recognised such submission as a basis for breaching the Constitution.”
He further stressed that disbursing local government funds to a state government, which then withholds or redirects them, goes against the principles of fiscal federalism.
The matter is part of a broader suit filed by the AGF against all 36 state governors over alleged misconduct in the handling of local government allocations and disregard for constitutional autonomy.
The apex court is expected to deliver its ruling after considering arguments from all parties.
