AGF Drags Governor Adeleke to Supreme Court, Seeks Refund of Seven Months’ LG Allocations

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has asked the Supreme Court to compel Governor Ademola Adeleke to refund seven months’ worth of statutory allocations meant for local government councils in the state.

According to filings made by the AGF before the apex court, the Osun State Government allegedly continued to seize and manage local government funds in violation of a Supreme Court judgment delivered on July 11, 2024. That landmark judgment had declared that all local government allocations must be paid directly to the accounts of the councils, without interference by state governments.

Despite being a defendant in that case, Osun reportedly failed to comply, instead continuing to disburse LG funds through state-controlled accounts between July 2024 and February 2025. The AGF is now seeking an order mandating the refund of allocations received within this seven-month period, which he argues were illegally appropriated.

The legal dispute began when the Osun State Attorney General filed suit against the AGF and the Minister of Finance, alleging that the Federal Government withheld March 2025 allocations to its 30 local government councils. Osun claimed that the Finance Ministry acted on the AGF’s directive in freezing the funds.

However, in his response, Fagbemi denied issuing any such directive. A counter-affidavit filed by the Office of the AGF stated that the Minister of Finance never received instructions to withhold Osun’s allocations. The AGF instead contended that the state government had failed to submit the necessary bank account details of its LG councils, thereby breaching the Supreme Court ruling that funds must be paid directly to the councils and not funneled through the state.

The AGF’s counsel, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), filed a preliminary objection to Osun’s suit, describing it as an abuse of court process and an attempt to subvert judicial authority. He further argued that only local government councils themselves not the state government have the legal standing to sue over the disbursement of their funds.

According to the AGF, Osun’s actions constitute “egregious contempt” of the Supreme Court and amount to a clear disregard for Nigeria’s constitutional order on fiscal federalism. The state, he said, should not benefit from its own disobedience.

The Osun State Government, in what observers interpret as a backpedal, has now filed a notice of withdrawal of the suit. However, the matter remains on the Supreme Court docket and may still be heard if the withdrawal is not formally accepted.

This case has reignited the debate on local government autonomy, with legal experts watching closely to see whether the Supreme Court will assert its previous rulings and take a stronger stance against state encroachment on local government financial independence.