The Supreme Court has struck out a suit filed by the Osun State Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, over the withholding of local government allocations in the state.

In a split decision of six to one, the apex court ruled that the Osun Attorney General had no legal authority to sue on behalf of the 30 local government areas. The court said only the elected and inaugurated local government chairmen have the legal right to initiate such action.

Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Mohammed Idris declared that the Federal Government acted wrongly by withholding the funds, describing the move as a breach of the 1999 Constitution.

He said the Federal Government “improperly seized” local government allocations and should ensure that the funds are released directly to local government accounts.

The court also dismissed the AGF’s contempt claim against Osun State, stating that the Federal Government was “in more contempt” for failing to pay the funds as required by law.

However, the court held that since there was no evidence the Osun Attorney General was briefed by the local councils, he lacked the standing to file the suit on their behalf.

In a dissenting judgement, Justice Emmanuel Agim disagreed with the majority decision. He argued that the Osun Attorney General had the right to bring the case and criticised the Federal Government’s action as harmful to local governance.

Agim said withholding local government funds was “in bad taste” and could cripple the operations of councils across the state.