The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed September 29 for the hearing of a motion by the Osun State government challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear a suit against withheld Local Government funds in the Abuja Division of the court.
The state government, on Monday, insisted that since the vacation of the court came to an end on September 16, the case should be transferred back to Osogbo for appropriate hearing and determination of the suit.
Its motion challenging the jurisdiction of the Abuja Division was predicated on two grounds, which are that the fiat granted the Attorney General of the Federation for the matter to be heard during vacation in Abuja had been overtaken on the ground that the vacation has come to an end.
The motion, filed by its lead counsel, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, also challenged the validity of a purported letter from the office of the Chief Judge of the court mandating Justice Emeka Nwite to substantively determine the suit in Abuja.
The grouse of Adetumbi against the letter was that it was signed by a person who claimed to be the Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge.
Adetumbi contended that the Personal Assistant to the Personal Assistant of the Chief Judge is a busybody and a person unknown to law to sign such a sensitive document.
Insisting that the integrity of the letter is in doubt, the senior lawyer pleaded with Justice Nwite to first determine the validity of the letter before proceeding to the substantive matter.
However, counsel to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed, SAN, and that of the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladoja, SAN, who are defendants in the suit, challenged the application of the plaintiff, alleging that it was a ploy to delay the expeditious hearing of the matter.
The two senior lawyers told the court that the tenure of the elected APC Chairmen and Councilors will come to an end on October 22, and as such, their case will become academic if not expeditiously heard.
After taking arguments from the parties, Justice Nwite fixed September 29 to hear the application by the Osun State government and any other that borders on the jurisdiction first, before proceeding to any other one.
Earlier, the judge had struck out the name of the AGF, who was the third defendant in the suit, following the discontinuance of the matter against him by the plaintiff.
Plaintiff counsel said the matter was discontinued against the AGF as another suit against him is pending before the Supreme Court.
The suit, filed by the Attorney General of Osun State, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, on behalf of the state government, is seeking to restrain the CBN from opening accounts for the chairmen elected on the platform of the APC in 2022, whom the state government affirmed have been sacked by the same Federal High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
The suit, which was filed on behalf of Osun State by the state Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, seeks to restrain the CBN and the AGF from opening and maintaining accounts for the local government chairmen elected in October 2022 under the APC.
The chairmen in question were elected in an election that only featured candidates from the APC.
Specifically, the plaintiff wants “an interim injunction restraining the defendants from opening, operating, or maintaining local government accounts in favour of the Chairmen and Councillors who have been sacked or removed from office by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court.”
Another relief seeks to restrain the CBN and Accountant General of the Federation “from disbursing allocations to the sacked APC Chairmen and Councillors.”
Court fixes September 29 to hear Osun govt’s motion on withheld local govt funds