The Supreme Court has struck out a case filed by the Attorney General of Osun State, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, over withheld funds belonging to Osun’s 30 local governments.

In a split decision of six justices to one, the court ruled that the Osun Attorney General had no legal right to file the case on behalf of the local governments. The justices held that only the elected and inaugurated local government officials can take such a case to court.

Reading the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris said the Federal Government acted wrongly by stopping the funds, describing the action as a breach of the Constitution.

He added that the money should be paid directly into the local governments’ accounts.

The court also dismissed the AGF’s contempt claim against Osun, stating that the Federal Government was actually more at fault for failing to release the funds.

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Justice Idris noted that there was no proof that the local governments asked the Osun Attorney General to represent them, so he should not have filed the suit.

In a minority judgment, Justice Emmanuel Agim said the Osun Attorney General had the right to take the case to court and criticised the Federal Government’s action, saying it could cripple local government operations.

Source: Channels