Withheld LG Funds: Court Hears Jurisdiction Issue September 29

•As Osun insists on transfer to Osogbo Division

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed September 29, for hearing in a motion challenging its jurisdiction to hear a suit against withheld Osun State Local Governments’ funds.

Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned to the above date for hearing following insistence of the Osun State Government that the vacation court lacked jurisdiction beyond September 16, and hence the case be transferred back to Osogbo Division for appropriate hearing and determination.

According to the plaintiff, the fiat granted the Attorney General of the Federation for the matter to be heard during vacation in Abuja, had been overtaken on the ground that the vacation has come to an end.

The motion filed by its lead counsel, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, also challenged the validity of a purported letter from the office of the Chief Judge of the court mandating Justice Emeka Nwite to substantively determine the suit in Abuja.

The grouse of Adetumbi against the letter was that it was signed by a person who claimed to be Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge.

Adetumbi contended that the Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge is a busy body and a person unknown to law to sign such a sensitive document.

Insisting that the integrity of the letter is in doubt, the senior lawyer pleaded with Justice Nwite to first, determine the validity of the letter before proceeding to the substantive matter.

However, counsel to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN, and that of the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN, who are defendants in the suit challenged the application of the plaintiff, alleging that, it was a ploy to delay the expeditious hearing of the matter.

The two senior lawyers told the court that the tenure of the elected APC Chairmen and Councilors will come to an end on October 22, and as such, their case will become academic if not expeditiously heard.

After taking arguments from the parties, Justice Nwite fixed September 29 to hear the application by the Osun State Government and any other that borders on the jurisdiction first before proceeding to any other one.

Earlier, the Judge had struck out the name of the AGF, who was the 3rd defendant in the suit, following the discontinuance of the matter against him by the plaintiff.

Plaintiff’s counsel said the matter was discontinued against the AGF as another suit against him is pending before the Supreme Court.

The suit filed by the Attorney General of Osun State, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, on behalf of the state government is seeking to restrain the CBN from opening accounts for the chairmen elected on the platform of the APC in 2022, whom the state government claimed have been sacked by the same Federal High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

The suit filed on behalf of Osun State by the State Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, seeks to restrain the CBN and the AGF from opening and maintaining accounts for the local government chairmen elected in October 2022 under the APC.

The chairmen in question were elected in an election that only featured candidates from the APC.

Specifically, the plaintiff wants “an interim injunction restraining the defendants from opening, operating, or maintaining local government accounts in favour of the chairmen and councilors who have been sacked or removed from office by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.”

Another relief seeks to restrain the CBN and Accountant General of the Federation “from disbursing allocations to the sacked APC chairmen and councilors.”