CBN, OAGF deny releasing withheld Osun LG funds to APC chairmen, councillors

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 Osun State Local Government withheld 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 22 October, was in the realm of rumours.

The denial by CBN and OAGF came after counsel to the Osun State Government, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, told Justice Emeka Nwite that the funds, which are the subject of litigation before the court, had been unlawfully released between Thursday and Friday last week to the APC chairmen.

Adetunbi specifically alleged that despite the order of the court that the status quo should be maintained pending 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, stated 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 funds to the affected persons because their counterparts in Osun State had been on strike.

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

In their reactions, Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN, and Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN, representing CBN and OAGF respectively, denied that their clients had released the money to the APC local government chairmen as alleged by the plaintiff.

In their separate submissions, the two senior lawyers maintained that the information provided by the plaintiff’s counsel remained hearsay in the absence of documentary evidence.

In his motion seeking to transfer hearing in the case to Osogbo, counsel to the Osun State Government argued that since the court vacation had lapsed, 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.

Specifically, he argued 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 but from the defendants themselves.

In vehement opposition, CBN and OAGF contended 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 argued that the transfer of a case by the Chief Judge, Justice John Tsoho, was an administrative decision that could not be challenged by the Osun State Government. They therefore pleaded that the case be expeditiously determined in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Justice Nwite has fixed 16 October for ruling on whether or not the suit should be returned to the Osogbo Division of the Federal High Court.