CBN, Accountant-General Contradict APC on Osun LG Funds

 CBN, Accountant-General Contradict APC on Osun LG Funds

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) on Monday contradicted the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the release of withheld allocations belonging to the state’s local government councils.

The Osun APC had announced on Sunday that the funds had been released. However, at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, counsel to the CBN, Murtala Abdulrasheed (SAN), and counsel to the OAGF, Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN), told the court that their clients had not released any money.

The denial came after Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), counsel to the Osun State Government, told Justice Emeka Nwite that despite a subsisting order to maintain the status quo, the funds in dispute were unlawfully released last week to the APC-backed council chairmen. He alleged that the payments were made through special accounts opened for the disputed chairmen at the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

Adetunbi explained that in response, the Osun State Government approached the Oyo State High Court, since courts in Osun were on strike, and obtained a restraining order stopping UBA from disbursing the money.

Both CBN and OAGF lawyers dismissed the claims as “mere rumours” in the absence of documentary evidence.

Meanwhile, Adetunbi urged the court to return the case to Osogbo, where it was originally filed, arguing that transferring it to Abuja during the vacation period was done in bad faith. He faulted the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, for giving what he described as untenable reasons for the transfer, noting that such arguments should have come from the defendants, not the Chief Judge.

But the defence lawyers maintained that the transfer was an administrative decision of the Chief Judge that could not be challenged. They argued that since the directive was for the Abuja division to hear the matter substantively, the case should proceed there.

Justice Nwite has fixed October 16 for ruling on whether the case will be returned to Osogbo or continue in Abuja.