The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ànd the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) have denied reports of the release of the witheld 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 agencies of government told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the claims of the release of the funds to the disputed chairmen and councillors whose tenure would expire on October 22, were at the realms of rumours.
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Ciunsel 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 sacked local government chairmen of the APC.
Adetunbi specifically confirmed that inspite 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 APC members.
Adetunbi further told the court that his client had to approach the Oyo State High Court because their counterpart in Osun State were on strike action.
While admitting that the restraining order had been served on the commercial 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
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 local government chairmen elected on the platform of APC as alleged by the plaintiff.
In their separate submissions, the two senior lawyers, who aligned with themselves, insisted that the information by the plaintiff’s counsel remained rumours in the absence of documentary evidence.
In his motion seeking to transfer the hearing in the case to Osogbo, Osun State, the plaintiff’s lawyer said that since the vacation of the court 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 said that the letter transferring the case by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court gave untenable reasons that all the defendants were based in Abuja, adding that such reasons ought not to have come from the Chief Judge except the defendants.
But, 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 transferring a case by the Chief Judge, Justice John Tsoho, was an administrative one that cannot be challenged by the Osun State Government.
They, therefore, pleaded that the case be expeditiously determined in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Justice Nwite has fixed October 16 for ruling on whether or not the suit should be returned to Osogbo, the Osun State capital.