CBN, OAGF Refute Release Of Withheld Osun LG Funds To APC Sacked Officials

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, on Monday at the Federal High Court in Abuja denied the release of the withheld Osun State local government financial allocations to the chairmen and councillors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2022.

The two Federal Government agencies insisted that the claim of the release of the funds to the disputed chairmen and councillors whose tenure would expire on October 15, 2025, was mere rumour.

CBN and OAGF’s denial of release of the withheld funds came when lawyer to the Osun State Government, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, told Justice Emeka Nwite that the funds which is a subject of litigation before his court had been surprisingly released between Thursday and Friday last week unlawfully to the APC chairmen.

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Adetunbi specifically confirmed that in spite of the order of the court that status quo should be maintained pending the resolution of the suit on the financial allocation, CBN and OAGF released the withheld money through special accounts opened for the disputed local government chairmen at the United Bank for Africa, UBA.

The senior lawyer however said that in a swift reaction, the Osun State Government approached a High Court of Oyo State and secured a restraining order against the bank, stopping it from disbursing the fund to the affected persons.

Adetunbi further told the court that his client had to approach the Oyo State High Court because their counterpart in Osun State have been on strike.

While admitting that the restraining order had been served on the bank, CBN and OAGF, he said that he had no documentary evidence as at the time of his submissions to be placed before the court

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In their reactions Murtala Abdulrasheed and Tajudeen Oladoja, both SANs and representing CBN and OAGF, respectively, denied that their clients have effected the release of the money to the APC local government chairmen as alleged by the plaintiff.

In their separate submissions, the two senior lawyers who aligned with themselves insisted that the information by the plaintiff counsel remained rumours in the absence of documentary evidence.

In his motion seeking to transfer hearing in the case to Osogbo, the Osun State lawyer said that since the vacation of the court had lasped, the suit should be transferred to where it was originally instituted in the interest of justice, fair hearing and fair play.

Adetunbi insisted that transferring the suit from Osogbo to Abuja during vacation was in bad faith and questionable because there was no urgency to warrant such action.

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Specifically, he said that the letter transferring the case by the Chief judge of the Federal High Court gave untenable reasons that all the defendants are based in Abuja, adding that such reasons ought not to have come from the Chief Judge except the defendants.

In vehement opposition, CBN and OAGF argued that the letter transferring the case from Osogbo to Abuja made it clear that the Abuja court should hear the suit substantively.

The two agencies said that the transfer of cases by the Chief Judge, John Tsoho, was an administrative issue that cannot be challenged by the Osun State Government.

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They therefore pleaded that the case be expeditiously determined in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Justice Nwite has fixed October 16, 2025, for ruling on whether or not the suit should be returned to Osogbo.