The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed September 29 to hear a motion filed by the Osun State Government, which is questioning the court’s authority to handle a case involving withheld Local Government funds.
On Monday, the Osun Government insisted that the matter should no longer remain in Abuja since the vacation of the court ended on September 16.
According to the state, the case ought to be transferred back to Osogbo for proper hearing and determination.
In its motion, filed by lead counsel Musibau Adetumbi (SAN), the state government raised two main points. First, it argued that the approval earlier given to the Attorney General of the Federation to allow the case to be heard in Abuja during the vacation period has already expired with the end of the vacation.
Second, it challenged the validity of a letter said to have come from the office of the Chief Judge, which directed Justice Emeka Nwite to continue hearing the case in Abuja.
On the other hand, counsel to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN), and counsel to the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN), opposed the application. They claimed that Osun’s motion was only a tactic to delay the quick resolution of the case.
After listening to both sides, Justice Nwite ruled that the court will first hear Osun State’s application on jurisdiction, as well as any other related objections, on September 29 before considering the main issues in the case.
Earlier, the judge had struck out the name of the AGF, who was the third defendant in the suit, following the discontinuance of the matter against him by the plaintiff.
Plaintiff 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 affirmed have been sacked by the same Federal High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
The suit, which was 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 Councillors 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 Councillors.”