Court gavel
In a surprising twist to a high-stakes legal faceoff, the Osun State Government on Friday formally withdrew its lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) over alleged withholding of local government allocations.
Appearing before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Osun’s legal representative, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, said the matter had become “overtaken by events.”
He explained that although the case aimed to safeguard withheld LG funds, it had become irrelevant as the funds in question had already been moved from the CBN by the defendants.
The lawsuit, originally filed by the state’s Attorney General, sought to block the Federal Government from disbursing local government allocations to chairmen and councillors sacked during the tenure of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
“Our primary aim was to protect the money,” Adetumbi told the court. “But despite the pending case and the court’s status quo order, the funds were moved out of the Central Bank.”
The notice of withdrawal was filed under Order 51 Rule 2 of the Federal High Court Rules, with Adetumbi stressing that continued litigation would now amount to a mere academic exercise.
Defendants Push Back on Claims, Seek Sanctions
While neither the CBN’s counsel, Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN, nor the AGF’s lawyer, Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN, opposed the withdrawal itself, they strongly objected to the contents of an accompanying affidavit filed by the plaintiff.
Abdulrasheed argued that the affidavit contained “damaging claims” about third parties who are not part of the suit, insisting that the affidavit should also be withdrawn. He warned that someone could later request a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the document and misuse it.
“The plaintiff made serious allegations against individuals not before this court. That’s improper and potentially harmful,” he stated.
He also accused the Osun Government of acting in bad faith, and misrepresenting facts by claiming the CBN lacked a credible defence. According to him, a 12-paragraph counter-affidavit had already been filed back in May.
Oladoja echoed similar sentiments, urging the court to strike out the affidavit’s claims and requesting N10 million in costs against the Osun Government for dragging the AGF to court and wasting judicial resources.
He argued, “The plaintiff has no obligation to justify a discontinuance with questionable grounds. They wrongly claimed that money had been paid, a fact we were never given a chance to respond to.”
Plaintiff Fires Back: No Grounds for Cost
In response, Adetumbi insisted that the withdrawal followed proper procedure and does not warrant any cost or sanctions. He argued the defendants had themselves defaulted by not filing timely responses.
“They cannot now ask the court to expunge parts of our application or impose costs. Their delay is not our responsibility,” he maintained.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter to October 29 for a ruling on both the discontinuance request and the various objections raised by the defence teams.
This comes a day after the judge ruled that the Osun Attorney General had legal standing to bring the suit on behalf of the state’s local government councils, dismissing objections by both the CBN and AGF.
(NAN)
