Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has scheduled September 29 to hear a motion by the Osun State Government contesting the Abuja court’s authority to hear a suit involving withheld local government funds.
During the resumed hearing, the state argued that, since the court’s vacation ended on September 16, the matter should be transferred back to Osogbo for proper adjudication.
The motion, filed by lead counsel Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, challenges the Abuja Division’s jurisdiction on two main grounds.
First, it claims that the permission granted to the Attorney General of the Federation to hear the case during the court’s vacation has lapsed.
Second, it disputes the authenticity of a letter from the Chief Judge’s office directing Justice Nwite to handle the case in Abuja.
Adetunbi criticised the letter, stating it was signed by a “Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge,” describing the signatory as “a busy body” without legal authority to issue such instructions.
He urged the court to verify the validity of the letter before addressing the merits of the case.
Representing the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN, and the Accountant General of the Federation, Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN, opposed the motion.
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They argued that the state’s application was intended to delay proceedings, highlighting that the tenure of the elected APC chairmen and councillors ends on October 22, after which the case could become academic if not resolved quickly.
After considering arguments from both sides, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter to September 29 to first determine the jurisdictional issues before proceeding to other aspects of the case.
Earlier, the judge removed the Attorney General of the Federation as the third defendant following the plaintiff’s discontinuance of the suit against him.
Counsel for the state explained that another related case involving the AGF is currently before the Supreme Court.
The suit, filed by Osun State Attorney General Oluwole Jimi-Bada, seeks to prevent the CBN from opening accounts for APC local government chairmen elected in 2022, whom the state maintains have been legally removed by the Federal High Court and confirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Specifically, the state is asking for “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.”
The lawsuit also requests that the CBN and Accountant General of the Federation be restrained from disbursing allocations to the sacked APC chairmen and councillors.