[OPINION] Expectations, Scepticism and Optimism on Osun Local Government Supreme Court Judgment to be delivered on Friday 5th December 2025

By Dele Ajayi

In the early hours of Wednesday, 3rd of December, 2025,reports filtered to the public that the apex court in the country (The Supreme Court) will finally clear the dust and settle all the imbroglio and shenanigans that have enveloped the third tier of government in Osun state. It would be recalled that local government secretariats across Osun state have been strangely and unprecedentedly under lock and key since February this year. It is also on record that there have been much agitations, hue and cry as regards the state of affairs of the closest level of government to the grassroots in the State of the living spring.

Since the report of the Supreme Court’s decision to give its final verdict on the matter on Friday got to public domain in the early hours of Wednesday 3rd December, 2025, there have been palpable fear and agitations as well as fierce and hot debates on where the pendulum of the judgement will swing.

The questions people are asking now are, will the Supreme Court judgement rescue the Osun Local Government from the den of stagnation and place it on the fast lane of development? Will the judgement on Friday bring forth light or impose much thicker darkness on the affairs of local government in Osun state? What are the factors that will determine the decisions and verdicts of the jurists?

The answer to the last question here will go a long way in determining the possible or plausible answers to the first and second questions above.

To start with, it is pertinent to point out that all court judgements are based on records and precedence, that is, the records before the court and how previous cases of similar nature or circumstances were handled.

I will start with precedence. The matter before the Supreme Court for determination is whether the Attorney General and Minister of Justice has the power to order the withholding of local government allocations. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its verdict in accordance with section 150 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which has spelt out the functions and duties of the AGF. In determining the case, the Supreme Court will have to consider its earlier decisions and judgements on the matter

A similar case came before the Supreme Court in 2004, in Attorney General of Lagos state versus Attorney General of the Federation. It was then alleged that the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo had directed the Federal Ministry of Finance to suspend allocations to local government areas in Lagos state to punish the then stubborn and recalcitrant Lagos state Governor, now president Bola Ahmed Tinubu who defiantly created local government Areas in Lagos

The Supreme Court in its judgement in the 2004 case declared the action of both Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the then Attorney General as illegal, unconstitutional and unlawful. The 2004 verdict was clear as it stated that neither the president nor any Federal agency has the power to unilaterally withhold allocations to any tier of government.

It would be recalled that the Lagos state government was paid that fund by late President Yar’Adua

With this 2004 supreme court judgement, a precedence has been established in favour of the litigant or plaintiff in the Osun state local government case before the Supreme Court.

In the Lagos AG v. AG-Federation (2004), the Supreme Court held:

“…there is a proper dispute under Section 232(1) of the 1999 Constitution between the parties, and this Court has jurisdiction to determine the dispute. Besides, it is a general principle of law that the Court will not readily deny itself jurisdiction unless expressly ousted by legislation.”

Another case of striking similarities with the Osun case was a suit in A-G Bendel State v. A-G Federation & Ors (1981).

In his judgement The late Hon Justice Kayode Eso declared that

“It is the primary aim of this Court to do substantial justice, and this should indeed be more pronounced in constitutional matters… The Court cannot justify its usefulness in regard to this peculiar jurisdiction by being inhibited with technicalities.”

The take away from the above cases which would serve as precedence, is that the Supreme Court will base its Friday judgement on facts and records before it and not on technicalities

Let’s now go to records. Records before any court play vital and significant roles in determining the victory or failure of a suit.

Records are to courts, what blood is, to the body. Cases are determined based on facts and records before the jurists.

On the case in view, are there records before the Supreme Court upon which the Friday 5th December, 2025 judgment could be based? The answer is Yes.

To start with, it is a matter of public record that the Federal High Court judgement in suit no. FHC/OS/CS/103/2022 Instituted by the Action Peoples Party APP had declared the Yes or No election conducted by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission under the supervision of Chief Segun Oladitan on October 15th, 2022 as unlawful, unconstitutional and illegal by not giving the number of days required by law to participants in the elections

The Osogbo Federal High Court did not only nullify the election, it also sacked the beneficiaries of the polls.

Meaning of course that “something can not be built on nothing”. The so called elected local government officials who were products of the unlawful election were therefore persona non grata in their respective local government areas.

Yes, the Osogbo Federal High Court verdict was appealed but was abandoned. It is on record that the appellant in the judgement of the Osogbo Federal High Court went into suspicious sleep after appealing against the judgment which made the Appeal Court in Akure dismissed the case for lack of diligent prosecution. The simple interpretation of the dismissal is that, the judgement of the Federal High Court against the election of Yes or No chairmen in Osun will continue to stand.

The appelants however woke up suddenly and dramatically to seek the reenlistment of the case at the same Appeal Court in Akure. But on June 13, 2025 the Court rejected the move to reenlist the case and upheld the earlier dismissal of the case by the same Appeal Court in Akure.

In dismissing the reenlistment of the case,
Justice Chudi Obiora in his lead judgment held that

“Of course, the dismissal of the appeal means that there being no existing appeal against the judgment of the lower court, the said judgment stands as the authority defining the state of affairs regarding the status of the officers of the various Local Government Councils in Osun State.”

In the same judgement, her Lordship, Justice Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye of Court of Appeal, Akure held that “Critically, this court had earlier delivered judgement on the 10th February 2025 in appeal no. CA/AK/270/2022 involving basically the same parties and addressing substantially the same issues. The said appeal has been dismissed. What is more, fresh local government elections conducted on 22nd February 2025 and swearing in of new chairmen and councilors have overtaken the substratum of this dispute. Relisting the appeal at this stage would serve no purpose.”

Justice Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye further held that “This court as I know it, does not concern itself with academic discussions or matters. In fact, all courts of law are enjoined to adjudicate between parties in relation to their compelling legal interests and never to engage in mere academic questions or arguments, or discourse, no matter how erudite or beneficial it may be to the public at large. So this is court.”

The inference from above Court records is that, the case before the Supreme Court has since been settled in favour of the litigant that is the Osun state government by Lower courts before getting to the Supreme Court.

Another symbolic and significant record which may have key influence in the decision of the Supreme Court is the position of the umbrella organisation for all law officers or legal professionals in Nigeria, The Nigerian Bar Association. Shortly before its annual conference this year, the NBA had released the findings of its committee set up to provide a legal bearing on the local government tussle in Osun state. The NBA after receiving the report of the committee issued a position as follows “The Nigerian Bar Association NBA Committee concluded that there was no legal basis for the continuous withholding of Osun local government allocations by the federal government. The NBA leadership appealed to the federal government to release the funds to the duly elected council officials.”

Key points of the NBA’s position include:

1. The committee found that a court of law had previously sacked the All Progressives Congress APC chairman from office in 2022, a decision which was later upheld by the court of Appeal in February, 2025.
2. The report stated that the current state government was not responsible for their initial removal.
3. The NBA leadership in a letter to the Attorney General of the federation and minister of Justice demanded the release of allocations to the officials who emerged from the February 22, 2025 local government elections.

The overall position of the NBA is stated below

“It is the considered view of the NBA, supported by the correct interpretation of the relevant judgments of the Court of Appeal, that the only valid and legitimate officials who can lawfully occupy the elective offices in the LGAs of Osun State are those of the PDP. They are, therefore, legitimately entitled to the release of the funds meant for their respective councils.”

In concluding this piece, it must be stated that every angle of legal opinion on the subject matter before us points to the fact that the APC and its agents in the case before the Supreme Court, which judgement has been fixed for Friday the 5th December 2025 may be having a very bad case, or not only bad, but incurably bad.

Dele Ajayi