Supreme Court Dismisses Osun Government’s Suit Over Local Government Funds

The Supreme Court on Friday struck out a suit filed by the Attorney General of Osun State seeking to compel the Federal Government to release statutory allocations due to the state’s Local Governments.

Delivering a majority judgment of six to one, Justice Mohammed Idris held that the Osun State Attorney General lacked the legal standing (locus standi) to file the suit on behalf of the Local Governments, which are independent legal entities capable of instituting legal action to assert their rights.

Justice Idris, who read the lead judgment, explained that the plaintiff failed to establish a cause of action under Section 232(1) of the Constitution that could invoke the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction.

He noted that the matter concerned the alleged withholding of Local Government funds by the Federal Government, and as such, there was no direct dispute between Osun State and the Federal Government to justify the state’s intervention.

The apex court distinguished the case from the landmark judgment in Attorney General, Abia State & Others v. Attorney General of the Federation, which mandated the direct payment of allocations to Local Governments across the country.

Justice Idris emphasized that any suit over withheld funds should have been initiated by the affected Local Governments themselves, rather than the state government.

However, the Justice expressed concern over the Federal Government’s failure to implement measures necessary to enforce the earlier Supreme Court ruling, stressing that the judgment required all funds standing to the credit of Local Governments in the federation account to be remitted directly to them without obstruction.

Justice Emmanuel Agim dissented from the majority opinion, asserting that the Osun State Attorney General had the right to institute the case.

In his view, the Federal Government’s withholding of Local Government allocations was a “misstep capable of crippling the activities of the councils.”