Against the backdrop of the recent stoppage of monthly allocations for local councils in Osun State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, took on the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, declaring that his directive was an affront to the nation’s constitution.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, had recently directed relevant stakeholders to withhold February, March, April and May allocations accruable to the councils following the protracted battle over the control of the councils between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP.

However, while reacting to the development, the PDP in the state, in a statement signed by its Media Director, Oladele Bamiji, chided Fagbemi over what he termed gross abuse of office and high-handedness.

He said that the AGF’s action portrays not just a conflict of interest but also a dangerous erosion of the doctrine of separation of powers, which forbids him from usurping judicial powers not vested in him by law.

MEANWHILE, the Osun State Government has taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court for allegedly seizing the monthly allocations accruing to the councils.

The suit, dated April 23, 2025, and filed by counsel to the Attorney General of Osun State (plaintiff), Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), has the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as the sole defendant.

The state government urged the Supreme Court for an order directing the Federal Government to release the seized funds and to also restrain it from further withholding, suspending and seizing fund allocations to the local councils in the state, among others.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.

HOWEVER, the state government has accused Fagbemi and the immediate past governor of the state and incumbent Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of colluding and denying the state of its councils’ allocations for three months.

The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, alleged that Oyetola had vowed to destabilise governance in the state.

Alimi alleged that Oyetola connived with Fagbemi to withhold the allocations of the councils.

BUT reacting, the leadership of the APC in the state justified the allocations’ seizure and advised members of the public to ignore the line of last resort of the ruling PDP.

APC’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, in a statement, yesterday, wondered how “the same PDP-led government, which has denigrated the Court of Appeal judgment, is now calling for a rule of law, which has never changed, but strictly observed by the Federal Government in its doings.”