The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has asked the Supreme Court to order the Osun State Government to refund seven months’ worth of local government allocations to the Minister of Finance.

The demand was made through a written response filed by Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN) on behalf of the AGF, in reaction to a lawsuit initiated by the Osun State Government, which accused the Federal Government of failing to disburse the March 2025 statutory allocation to its 30 local government councils.

In the case, SC/CV/379/2025, Osun claimed that when it inquired about the missing funds, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, allegedly said he acted on directives from the Attorney General.

However, Fagbemi denied the claim and questioned the competence and merit of the suit. He accused Osun of being in contempt of a July 11, 2024, Supreme Court ruling, which he argued the state had not complied with.

The AGF dismissed Osun’s reliance on the 2004 Supreme Court case AG Lagos State v. AG Federation, which compelled the federal government to release withheld allocations to Lagos State, arguing that the circumstances were different.

In a counter-affidavit deposed to by Taye Oloyede, a special assistant to the President, the AGF maintained that neither he nor the Minister of Finance issued instructions to withhold any allocations due to Osun’s local governments.

Fagbemi raised a five-point preliminary objection, arguing that:

1.      Osun State is in contempt and thus not entitled to be heard.

2.      The state cannot appeal a Supreme Court decision.

3.      The case lacks a real dispute to invoke the court’s original jurisdiction under Section 232(1) of the Constitution.

4.      Osun has no locus standi to sue on behalf of its local governments.

5.      Only the local government councils themselves not the state government can seek legal redress for withheld funds.

“If any local government has been wrongly deprived of its funds, it is the council itself not the state that has the right to sue,” the AGF’s legal team argued.

Fagbemi further accused Osun of acting as a “self-appointed watchdog” over funds it does not have the constitutional authority to control in such legal matters.

The legal face-off adds another layer to the growing tension between the federal government and state governments over control and access to local government resources.