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Osun Government faults report on AGF demanding refund of LG Allocations

Published by Akinwale Fakinlede on July 27th, 2025.

The Osun State Government has faulted reports in a national newspaper quoting the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, as demanding that the state refund seven months’ worth of local government allocations.

The government described the AGF’s position and the media report as “belated, biased, and misconceived,” insisting that the demand lacked legal merit and is politically motivated.

Osun State Government had earlier taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court in Suit No. SC/CV/379/2025 to challenge the withholding of its local government funds but later discontinued the case on June 24, 2025, following procedural and strategic considerations.

The latest controversy stems from a report published by The Punch and circulated across various media platforms, wherein the AGF was quoted as insisting that Osun State must refund funds disbursed from the Federation Account to its local governments, purportedly in violation of a Supreme Court judgment on local government financial autonomy. The Punch based its report on an affidavit in the discontinued case.

According to the Osun State Government, the report misrepresents the situation and ignores existing judicial pronouncements. In a detailed rebuttal, the state explained that the original Supreme Court judgment delivered on July 11, 2024, in SC/CV/343/2024, granted a federal request for direct disbursement of local government funds from the Federation Account, bypassing the State Joint Local Government Account previously used. However, the state maintains that the federal government has failed to implement the said judgment, continuing to disburse local government funds to states — Osun included — for months after the ruling.

Central to the dispute is the legitimacy of local government leadership in Osun State. The government of Governor Ademola Adeleke contends that the previous administration under Gboyega Oyetola only conducted controversial “Yes/No” local elections in October 2022, which were later nullified by two Federal High Court judgments delivered in November 2022. These rulings sacked the elected chairmen and councillors affiliated with the All Progressives Congress (APC).

While the APC appealed both judgments, it eventually abandoned one and lost the other. In its June 13, 2025 ruling, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the subsistence of the Action Peoples Party (APP) judgment that nullified the elections and noted that new elections had already been conducted by the Adeleke-led government in February 2025, with newly elected chairpersons and councillors duly sworn in.

Despite this, the federal government has refused to recognize the new local government officials in Osun and continues to regard the sacked APC functionaries as the legitimate officeholders — a position Osun State considers partisan and contemptuous of court judgments.

In a March 26, 2025 letter to the Minister of Finance, the AGF claimed the APC officials remained in office and thus entitled to statutory allocations until their supposed tenure expiration in October 2025. This claim, Osun argues, ignores binding court decisions and the facts on the ground.

The Osun Government accuses the AGF of selectively applying the Supreme Court’s July 2024 judgment only to Osun State while continuing to pay other states through their joint accounts. “Why is the AGF cherry-picking which local government officials to recognize, and why only Osun?” the government asked in its rejoinder.

It further alleged that the AGF’s actions are tainted by political bias, pointing out that Prince Lateef Fagbemi served as legal counsel to former Governor Oyetola and the APC in the gubernatorial election tribunal and subsequent appeals. “This blind loyalty to Oyetola has now become a threat to constitutional order,” the statement declared.

The Osun State Government insists that the seven months of allocations were legally received and disbursed to the validly constituted local governments in the state. The allocations in question were approved and released even after the Supreme Court’s autonomy judgment, which the federal government itself failed to operationalize until recently.

“It is hypocritical for the same federal government that paid allocations through joint accounts for months after the Supreme Court ruling to suddenly single out Osun State for punishment,” the government argued.

The state government concluded that the demand for a refund is not only without basis but reflects “bad faith and ill will against the people and Government of Osun State.” It called on the federal government to respect court rulings, refrain from partisan interventions, and treat all states with fairness in implementing constitutional mandates.

“The Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy is a legal milestone, not a political tool,” the government said, urging the Federal Government to put mechanisms in place for full compliance across all 36 states instead of weaponizing the judgment against a single state.